Trade Minister Airlangga Hartarto has said his ministry set a target to increase car exports to 450,000 this year. In the previous year, the country saw 346,000 car exports with total profits at US$4.78 billion.
According to the Association of Indonesian Automotive Manufacturers, the export of completely built units in 2018 was recorded at 264,553 cars, a 14.4 percent increase from the export number in 2017, while the export of completely knocked-down cars grew 6.6 percent to 86.6 million.
Airlangga said Indonesia's automotive products were able to compete in the international market due to the increasing use of local content following the issuance of a regulation on local content requirements.
"We expect the Indonesian automotive industry will become a hub of the industry in ASEAN, or even in Asia," he said in a press statement recently.
Indonesia had grown to become a production base for multipurpose vehicles (MPVs), trucks and pick-up trucks for global markets and was aiming to be a supplier for sedans and sport utility vehicles (SUVs), he added.
Meanwhile, the production of four or more-wheeled vehicles reached 1.34 million units worth $13.76 billion last year. "In terms of the domestic market, we are better than Thailand. We set a target to produce 1.5 million units by 2020," Airlangga said.
He said the ministry was also pushing local automotive manufacturers to develop low-carbon emission vehicles (LCEVs), as the government wanted electric-based vehicles to account for 20 percent of vehicles in Indonesia by 2025.
Airlangga said the ministry encouraged the opening of new industrial areas in East Java and other parts of the country.
Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/04/04/indonesia-sets-target-to-export-450000-cars-in-2019.html