Entry of Chinese cars in RI may threaten Japan's dominance
Entry of Chinese cars in RI may threaten Japan's dominance
JAKARTA (JP): After its successful debut in the motorcycle
market, China will come again within the next few months to
introduce its multipurpose vans to Indonesia.
Automotive analysts estimate that the entry of Chinese vans
will pose a serious threat to the dominance of Japanese brands in
the domestic car market, especially to manufacturers of light
vehicles.
"Chinese vans are quite cheap. This will make it easy to
compete with the existing brands," Bambang Trisulo, chairman of
the Association of Indonesian Automotive Industries (Gaikindo),
told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
Some local car distributors plan to import several Chinese
makes to introduce more choices to the market, which is currently
dominated by Japanese and European cars.
Last year, Chinese motorcycle producers rattled the car
industry when they flooded the local market with their cheap but
fashionable motorcycles.
Existing local car producers, which mostly make Japanese
motorcycles, charged their Chinese rivals of imitating their
motorcycle components.
Chinese motorcycles have become more popular due to an
aggressive marketing strategy.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, two Chinese
four-wheeled vehicles -- Changan and Wuling -- have received
approval to be imported into Indonesia.
Changan will be imported by PT Dharma Nugraha Paramitha, while
Wuling will be imported by PT Dayu Bahtara Kurnia.
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 Chinese vans will compete with the Daihatsu Zebra and
Espass, the Suzuki Carry, Futura, Karimun.
"With their low prices, the Chinese cars could easily take up
at least 12 percent of the multipurpose van market within a
year," Bambang said.
Bambang, however, warned that it would be difficult for
Chinese carmakers to gain popularity if they did not establish a
strong network for after sales service.
Budhiman Sirod, chairman of the Indonesian Motor Vehicle
Importers Association (AIKI) told Bisnis Indonesia that the cars
could be sold for below Rp 43 million.
He also said that approximately 700 Chinese cars would be
imported soon, adding that the after sales service had been
prepared to satisfy customers.
Bambang said the arrival of the Chinese vans would force
Japanese assemblers either to produce cheaper cars or to improve
the efficiency of their existing models.
"The competition will be good for the customers because they
can choose better products with cheaper prices," he said.
According to Gaikindo, car sales last year rose by 213 percent
to 211,900 vehicles from last year's 67,718. (05)