500 LCGC to be Exported Monthly, Minister Says

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Minister of Industry Muhammad Suleman Hidayat, has set a minimum target of 500 units of Low Cost Green Cars (LCGC) to be exported every month. The number is equal to 3.8 percent of monthly LCGC production in 2013.

"Next month will be our first export of LCGC," he said to Tempo.

According to Hidayat, car manufacturers that will be exporting LCGC is Astra Daihatsu Motor (ADM), which will market the new Astra Daihatsu Ayla to the Philippines. Hidayat said that he could not predict the export target of LCGC for 2014, seeing there are other automakers that are not ready to market their cars yet.

The Indonesian Joint Automotive Industry (Gaikindo) said that in the September to December 2013 period, LCGC production has reached a total of 52.956 units, while the total export of vehicle from Indonesia has reached 170,907 units for Completely Built Up (CBU) cars, and 105,380 units for Completely Knocked Down (CKD) cars.

For 2014, LCGC production is estimated to reach 150,000 units. In addition to Astra Daihatsu, there are other 3 automakers that produce LCGC, namely Toyota Astra Motor with their Astra Toyota Agya, Suzuki Indomobil with their Suzuki Karimun Wagon-R, and Honda Prospect Motor with their Honda Brio Satya. This year the number of LCGC line up will most likely increase with a new addition introduced by Nissan Motor Indonesia's Datsun GO.

ANANDA TERESIA | PRAGA UTAMA | FERY FIRMANSYAH