The Indonesian Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi targets the value of car exports from Indonesia this year to reach 8 billion US dollars or equivalent to Rp 113 trillion. This is in line with the increase in the domestic automotive industry after being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in the past year, along with the presence of various incentives from the government. "Indonesia's automotive market is large and continues to grow, so many are interested in investing. Now, we are car exporters," he said recently. According to him, in 2006, Indonesia became one of the countries with the fewest types of cars compared to neighboring countries in the Southeast Asia region. One of them, Thailand, which is able to become an export base for the related region. "There, for every 1,000 people there are 179 units while Indonesia only has 47 units. In fact, based on our higher population, the market potential is still very large," said Lutfi.
The automotive industry that sees this great potential is Japan, which is then followed up by building factories from upstream to downstream in the country. Thus, the impact can be felt from the current increase in the country's foreign exchange. However, Lutfi did not explain in detail the development of the value of automotive exports from Indonesia, especially in the four-wheeled or more motorized vehicle segment. But according to the Ministry of Trade's records, in August 2021 the export value managed to reach 21.42 billion or equivalent to Rp. 302 trillion. The balance sheet relates to a surplus after 17 years. Then, until September 2021, Indonesia's exports rose by 43.8 percent and imports increased by 34 percent. Thus, total trade rose by 37.51 percent year-on-year “Japanese people come to see our car market is amazing. When I was the chairman of BKPM in 2005, I saw the figure for every 1,000 people in America there were 1,001 cars. In Japan there are 1000 people there are 583 cars," said Lutfi.
The Indonesian government's medium-term target regarding the export of completely built-up (CBU) cars from the country is 1 million units. At the very least, this figure can be achieved in the next four years or 2025. In encouraging these efforts, the Minister of Industry, Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, said that his party is still lobbying automotive business players. The goal is to be able to encourage Indonesia to become a motor vehicle production base. "The government targets exports of CBU vehicles in 2025 to reach 1 million units. Therefore, on this occasion, we will continue to make efforts to lobby automotive vehicle business actors," Agus said on a separate occasion. "In order to be able to make Indonesia a production base for export-oriented vehicles, namely vehicles that are environmentally friendly," Agus continued.
He also said that currently, the export market share of automotive products from Indonesia, including its components, has penetrated to 80 countries. "With production in January-August 2021 reaching 185,000 units of CBU vehicles, 70,000 sets of CKD (completely knocked down), 50 million components," he said.
