President Jokowi Calls for Export-Oriented Automotive Industry

Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung accompanies President Jokowi at the opening of the 2023 IIMS Automotive Exhibition at JIEXPO, Convention Center and Theater, Jakarta, Thursday morning (16/02) (Photo by: PR of Cabinet Secretariat/Agung)

The Indonesian automotive industry saw a significant increase every year, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has said.

“In 2002, our automotive industry grew by 18 percent, increasing than those in previous years. It is recorded that the domestic sales of cars reached 1,048,000 units. Meanwhile, the sales of motorcycles grew by 3.3 percent to 5,221,000 units in 2022,” the President said at the inauguration of 2023 Indonesia International Motor Show (IIMS) at JIEXPO, Convention Center and Theater, Jakarta, Thursday (02/16).

He further said that the increase in domestic automotive sales has caused traffic congestion in big cities as he noticed during his visits to Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, and Medan. To address this matter, he encouraged automotive industry to increase overseas sales.

President Jokowi also lauded the domestic automotive industry players for their success in increasing 100 percent of vehicle exports. The Government is committed to pushing domestic industry players to increase automotive export in order to scale up competitiveness with other countries.

“To ease the traffic congestion, I encourage all the domestic automotive industry players to become more export-oriented. The export increased from 300 thousand vehicles in 2021 to 600 thousand vehicles in 2022,” he said, adding that the country’s achievement is still lower than that of Thailand and expressing hope that the export of Indonesian vehicles keeps increasing every year.

Furthermore, he also mentioned that countries worldwide will switch to the electric vehicles (EVs) ecosystem. For this reason, he encouraged people to use electric cars.

“I also invite the automotive industry players to start seeing this trend and to shift the industry towards the trend that almost all countries are currently moving towards, from combustion to electric vehicles,” said the President.

He emphasized that the Government is currently encouraging the EVs industry ecosystem in the country to enter the global supply chain. Therefore, it can increase economic added value.

“The Government is also currently pushing sectors from upstream to downstream to immediately have this large ecosystem of EVs. Therefore, they can enter the global supply chain. From EVs batteries to lithium batteries, we will continue to complete them soon. Now, investors should stop making cathodes or precursors. They have to make EVs batteries, so that we can get more added value from the industry we have,” he remarked.

On the occasion, President Jokowi and limited entourage inspected EVs booths of Esemka, Toyota, Hyundai, and Wuling. (FID/TGH/GUN/SM) (GA/MUR)