Indonesia Wants 5 Percent Share of Australia’s Auto Market

Indonesia is seeking to enter Australia’s automotive industry and control five percent of the market share within the next five years, an official in Jakarta said on Wednesday.

“Australia is the most important automotive market in the region after Asean, considering the high demand for automobiles in the land of kangaroos,” Budi Darmadi, the director general for high-tech industries at Indonesia’s Industry Ministry, said.

“Indonesia wants to take over five percent of the market share in the next five years,” he added.

Budi said that during the past few years his ministry had been studying Australia’s automobile market, whose sales reached about one million units annually, with products from Japan, South Korea and Thailand dominating the market.

He added that Indonesia would likely export sport utility vehicles (SUVs), which top auto sales in Australia.
 
“Australian consumers like 1,800-cc SUVs, while SUVs produced in Indonesia only have a 1,500-cc capacity,” Budi said.

Indonesia is looking to expand its presence to Australia after expanding to auto markets in Venezuela, Mexico, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, among other countries.

Exports of automobiles fully assembled in Indonesia in the first half of the year was up 80.3 percent to 90,160 units, compared with the same period in 2011.

Exports of automobiles half-assembled in Indonesia rose 31.5 percent to 39,150 units, while exports of components increased slightly, by 3.3 percent, to 26.18 millions units.

Indonesian factories producing automobiles are local subsidiaries of Japanese automakers Toyota, Daihatsu and Suzuki.

Antara/JG