Timor Putra to assemble national cars at Indomobil
Timor Putra to assemble national cars at Indomobil
JAKARTA (JP): The national car maker PT Timor Putra Nasional
is planning to assemble Timor cars at Indomobil's plant from
April.
Timor Putra finance director Sudjaswin E.L. said yesterday the
company had signed an agreement with Indomobil, the country's
second largest car assembler, to assemble Timor sedans at its
plant in Tambun, near Bekasi, West Java.
"We plan to produce about 4,000 Timor sedans a month at the
plant," he said after donating two Timor cars to the Palestinian
ambassador to Indonesia, Ribhi Awad.
Sudjaswin refused to say how much Timor Putra would pay
Indomobil.
Sudjaswin said that Timor Putra's plant in Surabaya, which was
under construction, would be used to assemble Timor sporty jeeps
from next year.
He said Timor Putra would start building a plant in Cikampek,
Bekasi, this month to manufacture all Timor cars.
The company plans to export Timor cars to ASEAN countries from
1998.
Timor Putra, controlled by President Soeharto's youngest son
Hutomo Mandala Putra, was licensed by the government last year to
develop the so-called national car.
Timor cars are the only vehicles exempt from import tariffs
and luxury sales taxes.
Since Timor Putra had no assembly plants, the government has
allowed it to import 45,000 sedans from its South Korean partner,
Kia Motors.
This discriminatory treatment has angered Japan, the European
Union and the United States.
They have all filed complaints with the World Trade
Organization in Geneva, where they are negotiating their
complaints with Indonesia.
Timor Putra has imported 14,000 Timor sedans from South Korea.
But demand for Timor cars seems to be much lower than was
estimated. Between September and December, only 5,800 Timor cars
were sold, while the sales target was between 3,000 and 4,000
cars a month.
The company blamed weak sales on negative media reports and a
rumor that it had poor after-sales service.
Sudjaswin said that sales had started to pick up this month
and the company expected to sell 45,000 cars this year.
He said Timor Putra's competitors had staged a trade war
against it by spreading rumors that Timor had poor after-sales
service.
Sudjaswin said Timor Putra donated the two Timor cars to the
Palestinian embassy because of the good relationship between
Indonesia and Palestine.
Awad said he had no political motivation in accepting the cars
and believed that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat would be
happy with the donation.
"Palestinians and Indonesians are brothers. We support
Indonesia's effort to develop its national car," he said. (jsk)