Jokowi Laments Widespread Traffic in Opening Automotive Show
Translator
Editor
16 February 2023 13:21 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in his visit to the 2023 Indonesia International Motor Show (IIMS) said the country saw rising sales of vehicles in 2022 but lamented that it had caused traffic congestion to be widespread.
The President said vehicle sales last year grew by 18 percent with sales of cars reaching 1.48 million units while motorcycles reached 5.2 million units sold.
“We now have traffic jams everywhere. Jakarta has it, Surabaya has it, Bandung and Medan too. Because the sales growth has reached that number,” said the President in opening the automotive exhibition held in Kemayoran’s JIExpo on February 16.
Jokowi also suggested the automotive industry focus on exports as exports of cars and motorcycles from Indonesia grew from 300 thousand units to 600,000 units in 2022.
"But we still lost to Thailand, so we want to push again so that exports increase again," he said.
Data from the Association of Indonesian Automotive Industries (Gaikindo) suggest car production in Indonesia last year reached 1,470,146 units or grew 31 percent compared to 2021 which was 1,121,967 units.
Car exports also increased, both in the form of Completely Built Up (CBU) and decomposed (CKD). CBU car exports reached 473,602 units, up 60.7 percent compared to 2021's 294,639 units while CKD exports reached 596,541 units, or grew 5 percent compared to 2021's 91,964 units.
On the other hand, car imports in 2022 also grew to 83,298 units. When compared to 2021, it grew 74.3 percent from 47,779 units last year.
According to data from the Indonesian Motorcycle Industry Association, motorcycle exports in 2022 amounted to 743,551 units which are mainly contributed by the scooter segment reached 67.12 percent, underbone at 11.37 percent, and sport bikes at 21.51 percent.
The President has also encouraged the automotive industry to switch to electric vehicles as he insisted that the government has built an electric vehicle ecosystem from upstream to downstream to accelerate electrification.
"Our investors say that we have to get into battery-based electric vehicles."
DICKY KURNIAWAN
Editor's Choice: Jakarta Auto Week Coming in March to Fuse Automotive with Lifestyle
Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News
