Bimantara delays launching new model until end of year

Bimantara delays launching new model until end of year

By John Aglionby

PT Citramobil Nusantara will delay launching the third
Bimantara model until the end of this year in order to
concentrate on setting up its new manufacturing plant.

Earlier this month, Citramobil's parent company, PT Bimantara
Cakra Nusa, formed a joint venture with Hyundai of South Korea to
build a US$400 million plant in Purwakarta, West Java.

Construction is to start this year and the first cars are
scheduled to emerge in 1999.

Company president Jongkie Sugiarto said: "We want to ensure
that everything is right with the new factory and that all the
necessary links are in place. Once it is up and running we will
then turn back to the new model."

In January, Citramobil said it would add a third model to its
1600cc Nenggala and 1500cc Cakra in the middle of this year.

Jongkie said this week the new launch date would probably be
in December.

"I am 80 to 90 percent certain it will be at the end of the
year," he said.

He refused to reveal whether it would be a commercial vehicle
or a sedan.

"If I were to reveal that it would give our competitors an
unfair advantage. We will announce details of what type of
vehicle it will be two to three months before the launch,
probably in October."

However, he said: "It is interesting to watch the rapid growth
of the passenger car market. Sales of category one vehicles, such
as Kijangs, are growing at 1.5 percent, while passenger car sales
are growing at 35.6 percent a year."

This would indicate that the most likely third model would be
a passenger car.

Passenger cars currently account for just over 11 percent of
the 600,000 automotive sales in Indonesia.

Jongkie predicted that the figure would rise to 30 percent by
2000 and 50 percent by 2005.

Citramobil plans to involve as many local suppliers as
possible in the construction of the new model.

"We are being encouraged by Hyundai to tap the local market,"
Jongkie said.

"Then we won't have to import so much from Korea, we will then
pay less in import duties so we can reduce our prices. This means
we should sell more cars so we will then order more engines from
Hyundai."

Despite not receiving any benefits from the national car
program, the Nenggala -- a rebadged Hyundai Elantra -- has a
20.79 percent local content and sells for Rp 56 million ($23,000)
on the road.

The Cakra -- a Hyundai Accent -- with a local content of 20.64
percent, sells for Rp 42.5 million ($17,500).

Meanwhile, Jongkie confirmed that Ford was waiting until the
national car issue had been resolved at the World Trade
Organization before committing itself to forming a joint venture
with Bimantara, the sole agent for Ford in Indonesia.

"We have been told that Ford thinks the risk is too high to
increase its presence in Indonesia at the moment," he said.

"They would like to have a joint venture here and we invited
them years ago but at the moment everything is just pending on
the national car," he said.

This week, Ford's regional director of public affairs, Kenneth
Brown, said in Singapore that the American automotive giant could
not afford to ignore the Indonesian market but would wait for the
situation to be slightly more favorable.