Rupiah Weakens, Will Honda and Toyota Car Prices Rise?
JAKARTA — The weakening of the rupiah exchange rate against the US dollar has begun to trigger concerns within the national automotive industry. In recent days, the rupiah exchange rate even breached the level of Rp 17,600 per US dollar.
This condition is assessed to potentially impact vehicle production costs, particularly regarding import activities and the use of components and raw materials that still depend on the US dollar. Nevertheless, several automotive manufacturers have stated that they are currently holding vehicle selling prices while monitoring exchange rate developments.
Yusak Billy, Sales, Marketing, and After Sales Director at HPM, stated that the rupiah’s weakness is indeed exerting pressure on the automotive industry. “The exchange rate is indeed one of the factors affecting the automotive industry, so the current weakening of the rupiah certainly provides pressure, both for import activities and for several domestic production components and raw materials that are still impacted by the movement of the US dollar,” Billy told Kompas.com on Sunday (17/5/2026).
“However, most Honda models produced in Indonesia currently have a sufficiently high local content level, which helps reduce the direct impact,” said Billy. He added that Honda currently has no plans to increase vehicle prices. “For now, we do not have plans to adjust vehicle prices, but we will continue to monitor market developments and exchange rate trends in the future.”
Similar sentiments were expressed by Bansar Maduma, Marketing Director of PT Toyota Astra Motor (TAM). According to him, Toyota continues to monitor exchange rate developments before making decisions regarding vehicle pricing. “We will continue to monitor the movement. What is certain is that as Toyota Indonesia—including dealers, distributors, manufacturers, and suppliers—we want to minimise this impact,” Bansar said when met in Central Jakarta.
According to Bansar, Toyota hopes the US dollar exchange rate will stabilise so that the impact on the automotive industry is not too significant. “We will continue to monitor. Hopefully, the dollar will decrease in the future so we can minimise the existing impact. If it continues to drop, then there will be no need for [price increases],” said Bansar.
Nevertheless, Toyota cannot yet confirm whether the weakening rupiah will eventually lead to vehicle price adjustments in Indonesia. “We are actually trying to discuss with all stakeholders on how we prepare vehicles; we are also implementing many efficiencies to mitigate such increases. Therefore, we cannot say for certain right now. The challenge is how we can minimise the impact on customers,” he added.
The weakening of the rupiah has the potential to affect the automotive industry because many vehicle components still rely on imported raw materials and US dollar-based transactions. Additionally, exchange rate fluctuations can impact logistics costs and the price of vehicle spare parts.