TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said renowned automotive firm Isuzu Motors Ltd. will move its truck factory from Thailand to Indonesia. This was revealed by Agus after meeting with Isuzu officials in Japan on Tuesday, June 6.

"Isuzu said they will move its truck factory from Thailand to Indonesia and start production in 2024," he said in a written statement on June 7. The plant would be the UD Trucks manufactory, which was previously owned by Volvo before being taken over by Isuzu in 2019.

The Minister applauded the decision and is hopeful for the production move to run without significant trouble. “We will ease the process, which includes incentives to back the process of moving the factory,” he said.

In addition, he also hopes that Isuzu can increase the use of domestic components in the assembly process, namely by encouraging the types of vehicles that are still being assembled using the completely knocked down (CKD) import scheme to be changed to incompletely knocked down (IKD).

Vehicles assembled through the IKD import scheme are intended to increase the use of domestic components. Furthermore, Agus also encouraged Isuzu to expand its export market, especially to Africa.

The Isuzu factory in Karawang, West Java has a utilization rate of 85 percent while, production in 2022 was 44,694 units, or 15 percent of Isuzu's total production worldwide.

AMELIA RAHIMA SARI

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