TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The government has confirmed that the low cost green car program is open to all car manufacturers as long as they meet the requirements. “This is not a national car like the old days because there are no more discrimination,” said Edy Putra Irawady, the Coordinating Deputy Minister for the Economy in charge of Industry and Trade, yesterday.
In the 1990s, there was a national car with only one brand, Timor, and it was fully imported. According to Edy, this time the program is different. “It must definitely meet at least 60 percent of the Domestic Component Level requirement,” he said.
Other criteria include the fact that car must have 1.000cc car horsepower, a 22 kilometer per liter gas consumption, and a low gas emission level, for instance by using the Euro 4 standard. A few other incentives to be given by the government will be a reduction on luxury goods tax, duty exemption, factory area licensing, and regional tax reduction.
Budi Dharmadi, the Transportation and Telematics Industry director-general, would not mention the car manufacturer that has agreed to produce the car. The market’s response was mixed. Some were very interested, some only asked what incentives they would get, and others were not interested. “Premium car producers would not be interested.”
Budi said that the engineers assigned by the Ministry are now calculating the feasibility of the program and the measurement standards. “If we know for sure what criteria must be met, then we will release it to the public. We have until the end of the year to do this,” he said.
Jongkie D. Sugiarto, the Association of Indonesian Automotive Industries (Gaikindo) chief , said the program will be easily accepted by the public. “The people’s income continues to rise. Those who normally ride motorcycles certainly will want to improve their standards,” he said.
The PT Hyundai Mobil Indonesia president director said he is still waiting for the incentives the government promised to the producers. “The government must accept that it will get less revenue in order to build a local industry,” he said.
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