Govt undecided on national car policy for jeeps
Govt undecided on national car policy for jeeps
JAKARTA (JP): The government has not decided whether to apply
the national car policy to automobiles other than sedans but sole
national car licensee PT Timor Putra Nasional already has its
Sportage jeeps on display, for launching later this year.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade's Director General of
Metals, Machinery and Chemicals Effendi Soedarsono said over the
weekend that, according to Presidential Instruction No. 2/1996,
the national car policy applied to sedans only.
He said the government "has not considered" whether it would
give the same tax facilities to other types of automobiles,
including jeeps.
"We must refer to the presidential instruction if we want to
give the facilities to automobiles of other categories," Effendi
said after opening a week-long automotive exhibition at the
Jakarta Convention Center.
During the exhibition, a 2000cc PT Timor Sportage jeep was on
display but had no price tag.
"It will be on sale at the end of the year," a sales assistant
said.
PT Timor, controlled by President Soeharto's youngest son
Hutomo Mandala Putra, was licensed last year by the government to
develop so-called national cars.
The sedans were to be developed by PT Kia Timor Motor, a joint
venture between PT Timor and its foreign partner, Kia Motors
Corp. of South Korea.
Under the program, the government granted PT Timor the sole
right to produce Kia's Sephia sedans -- locally called Timor --
with the help of a series of tax breaks, provided that the car's
local component content reaches 20 percent by the end of the
first year, 40 percent by the end of the second year and 60
percent by the end of the third year.
Since PT Timor had no assembly plants, the government later
allowed it to import 45,000 completely built-up sedans from Kia
Motors for its first year of production.
In a recent development, PT Timor managed to persuade giant
car assembler PT Indomobil into assembling its sedans at the
latter's plant in Tambun, near Bekasi, West Java.
According to PT Timor executives, 4,000 Timor sedans would be
assembled every month at Indomobil's plant.
The executives said PT Timor began building its own sedan-
manufacturing plant in Cikampek, Bekasi, earlier this month.
Another plant in Surabaya is being constructed to assemble
Sportage jeeps, starting next year. The jeeps are originally
branded as Kia Sport in their native country.
Effendi said the government has never given national car
facilities for automobiles other than sedans.
"If (PT Timor) only wants to display it, they may," he said.
(pwn)