Bimantara Citra to launch national cars in July

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly-listed Bimantara Citra, controlled by President Soeharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo, plans to unfurl its "national" cars -- to be called Bimantara -- in July.

Bambang said here yesterday that Bimantara's automotive arm, PT Bimantara Cakra Nusa, had acquired brand licenses from the government to produce the Bimantara Cakra car, with a 1,500cc engine, and the Bimantara Nenggala car, with a 1,600cc engine.

"We just got the licenses today and we hope to launch the cars in July," Bambang told journalists after Bimantara Citra's annual shareholders meeting.

Both Cakra and Nenggala are taken from the names of special weapons owned respectively by brothers Kresna and Baladewa, figures known from Javanese Mahabarata-based shadow-puppet plays.

Bambang, however, could not disclose the prices for both types of cars, saying that his party was still seeking government support in the forms of tariff and tax breaks, similar to those extended to PT Timor Putra Nasional, a company controlled by his younger brother, Hutomo Madala Putra.

"If we get the same facilities, we can sell Bimantara Cakra below Rp 33 million (US$14,640), and if possible at Rp 30 million," Bambang said.

Hutomo said recently that Timor Putra, which will receive tax and tariff breaks, would sell a 1,500cc Timor S515 car at Rp 35 million, almost half the price of Japanese cars.

The Timor car, deemed to be the national car, will be developed together with Kia Motors Corp. of South Korea and is scheduled to be launched in September. Timor S515 will be similar to Kia's compact model Sephia.

Meanwhile, the Bimantara Cakra and Bimantara Nenggala are the Indonesian versions of the Hyundai Accent and Hyundai Elantra respectively, both developed by Hyundai Motor Company of South Korea.

To acquire the tax and tariff facilities for his Bimantara cars, Bambang said yesterday his company will give a presentation before government officials to convince them that one national car is not enough for Indonesia.

"The market is still very large. Only one firm (to develop a national car) is not enough, it needs two or three," Bambang said.

Minister of Industry and Trade Tunky Ariwibowo has repeatedly stated that the government is determined to extend the tax facilities to one company within the next three years. He reasoned that the government wants one company -- Timor Putra -- to perform well in developing the national car.

"If only one, can it guarantee that this one firm will run well? It will not be the case if there are two or three. Besides, the consumers will have more alternatives," Bambang argued.

He also contended that if the facilities are given three years after Timor Putra starts its national car program, it will be useless.

"If the facilities are given three years later, no one can compete with Timor Putra, because it will have got back some of its investment from sales of its cheap cars," Bambang noted.

"It must also be made clear when the three-year period starts. The deadline must also be made clear. It must not happen that they (Timor Putra) turn around by saying that `we haven't started yet' while they are importing and selling their cars here," Bambang said.

He suggested that the existing automobile assemblers speed up the localization of their manufacturing process so that they can compete with Timor Putra.

Jongkie D. Sugiarto, president of Bimantara Cakra Nusa, said yesterday his company has got confirmations from 12 vendors in South Korea to support its Bimantara cars.

"We are very optimistic that for the first year of operation, our Bimantara cars will 20-percent assembled with local components," Jongkie noted.

He explained that the Hyundai Elantra, which was launched here in July last year, had a local content of 17.2 percent, adding that Elantra's local components are supplied by 10 local vendors.

He added that Bimantara cars will reach a local content of 40 percent by the end of the second year of operation and of 60 percent by the end of the third year.

"We will reach full manufacturing for Bimantara cars in 1999 when our manufacturing facilities in Cikampek, West Java, are ready for commercial production," Jongkie said.

He said the construction of manufacturing facilities would need a total investment of US$700 million.

Bambang said the manufacturing facilities in Cikampek will be jointly owned by Bimantara and Hyundai Motors and will be used by Hyundai as a production base for its export-oriented right-hand- drive cars. (rid)