Indonesia, Chinese firms combine to drive EV growth

陈小将

A visitor experiences a Changan DEEPAL S7 during the 45th Bangkok International Motor Show in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 27. WANG TENG/XINHUA
After driving his Wuling Binguo electric vehicle for about half a year, Luthfi, a resident of Jakarta, Indonesia, found the experience of using his first EV to be "pretty good".

"The (EV charging) is cheap …and the car is quite small so I can move on the road easily," said the 45-year-old, who goes by one name.

One of the first buyers of a Wuling Binguo, a compact electric car launched in Indonesia in December, Luthfi said he chose it because the manufacturer, SAIC-GM-Wuling, has been in Indonesia for seven years, and the vehicles are made locally.

SGMW is a joint venture between Shanghai-based SAIC Motor, United States-based General Motors and Liuzhou Wuling Motor. It is based in Liuzhou, in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

The joint venture's plant in Indonesia, the first of its kind outside China, started production in 2017. It has invested a total of $1 billion to build the manufacturing base, which includes a factory with an annual production capacity of 120,000 units and a parts and components park.

While Japanese cars are a familiar sight on the busy roads of Indonesia's capital Jakarta, Jefri Setiawan is seeing more Chinese vehicles as he drives to work every morning.

The 40-year-old mid-level manager is the proud owner of Wuling BinguoEV. He bought the car three months ago after visiting a motor show at the Jakarta International Expo.

He decided to buy the model as it is more affordable than higher-priced brands such as Chery, Neta and BYD — the latest Chinese EVs to enter the Indonesian market — and similar vehicles from Japan, South Korea, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Wuling and other Chinese brands also attracted a lot of interest at the Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show, which ran from July 18 to 28 in Jakarta. The event — the largest auto show in Indonesia and one of the biggest in Southeast Asia — was organized by the Association of Indonesian Automotive Industries.