By: Mohamed El-Roby
JAKARTA, Dec. 24 (SEE)
- Hyundai Motor plans to start producing electric vehicles (EVs) in Indonesia
as part of an around $880 million US dollars auto investment in the country,
the deputy minister for industry said on Thursday.
According to Reuters Hyundai’s
move to set up its first car factory in Southeast Asia fits into the South
Korean carmaker’s strategy of cutting its reliance on China, where competition
is intense and its sales have suffered from diplomatic tensions between Seoul
and Beijing.
Hyundai Motor, which
together with affiliate Kia Motors is the world’s No.5 automaker, plans to
build a factory in Indonesia with a capacity of about 250,000 units, including
for electric cars.
Indonesia has ample
reserves of nickel laterite ore, a vital ingredient for the lithium-ion
batteries used to power EVs.
The minister noted the
plan was to export 53 percent of the cars manufactured in the proposed Hyundai
plant, mostly to Southeast Asia and Australia, while the remaining 47 percent
would be for the domestic market.
Hyundai said in a
statement on Friday that it was "considering various ways to expand" in
new markets including Southeast Asia. It added however that nothing had been
decided regarding new production facilities in the region.
In Indonesia, Hyundai
sold only 1,372 vehicles during the January to October period, compared with
Toyota’s 463,565 vehicles, according to data from market researcher LMC
Automotive.
Hyundai does not have
a car factory in Southeast Asia, although it has some assembly operations in
Vietnam.
Last month, Hyundai
announced a $250 million investment in Singaporean ride-hailing firm Grab and a
plan to offer EVs to grab drivers in Southeast Asia.
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