Tuesday, March 13 11:30 AM SGT
Chinese Cars Threaten Japan's Dominance in Indonesian Market
JAKARTA, March 13 Asia Pulse - Chinese multipurpose vans imported into Indonesia in the coming months will threaten the dominance of Japanese cars, especially of light vehicles, the Jakarta Post reported.
The newspaper quoted the Association of Indonesian Automotive Producers (Gaikindo) as saying that Chinese vans competed easily with the Japanese brands as they were quite cheap.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, two Chinese four-wheeled vehicles, the Changan and the Wuling, have received approval to be imported into Indonesia.
Changan vans have an engine capacity of between 800 cc and 1,000 cc, while Wuling vehicles are between 800 cc to 1,300 cc.
Both models are multipurpose vehicles, carrying price tags of between Rp 43 million (US$4,300) and Rp 45 million, or less than a half of the prices of similar vehicles already sold in the country.
"The competition will be good for the customers because they can choose better products with cheaper prices," Gaikindo said.
According to Gaikindo, car sales last year rose by 213 per cent to 211,900 vehicles from last year's 67,718.
(ANTARA)