Hankook Tire Co., Korea's largest tire maker, said Thursday it began construction of a new plant in Indonesia to increase its presence in the Southeast Asian country and other growing markets in the region.

The plant in the Jakarta suburb of Bekasi will be the company's seventh and will cost $350 million for the first phase of its construction, the company said.

The construction will be completed by 2014 when the plant will begin producing up to 6 million tires annually for passenger vehicles and light trucks.

The plant will be expanded further after 2014, with the total investment projected expected to reach $1.1 billion by 2018, Hankook Tire said.

Hankook Tire said the new plant in Indonesia and one planned in China will put the company's annual production capacity at over 100 million units, making the company the world's fifth-largest tire maker.

Hankook Tire currently has two plants in Korea, two in China and one in Hungary. (Yonhap News)