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apanese carmaker Daihatsu has played a major role in the automotive market in Indonesia. As a regular participant of the Tokyo Motor Show, PT Astra Daihatsu Motor (ADM), the Indonesian subsidiary of Daihatsu Motor Corp., Ltd., invited several Indonesian journalists, including The Jakarta Post’s Primastuti Handayani, to witness its latest innovations at the show as well as meet its executives on the sidelines of the show. Below is her report.

As Indonesia’s automotive market reached 745,000 units last year, industry players have forecast that the number would hit more than 1 million in 2013 and reach an estimated 1.15 million units in 2015. Daihatsu is among the major players who are upbeat that the forecast will come true, considering its ever-increasing sales figures.

Data shows that from last year’s 745,000 units, leading carmaker Toyota dominated the market with 38 percent, selling a total of 281,000 cars, followed by Daihatsu with 16 percent or 116,000 units.

Focusing on its Xenia and Terios models, Daihatsu is upbeat that more of its cars will storm Jakarta’s already jammed streets.

“I imagine there will be more Daihatsu cars along Jl. Sudirman [in Jakarta],” Daihatsu Motor Corp. [DMC] Ltd., President Koichi Ina told a press briefing for Indonesian journalists on Wednesday after delivering the carmakers’ latest innovations at the ongoing Tokyo Motor Show.

Ina said that the high demand for the recently launched All New Xenia had brought Daihatsu to a new phase in Indonesia by investing
Rp 2.1 trillion (US$230.8 million) next year for its Suryacipta assembly plant in Karawang, West Java.

Daihatsu aims to produce at least 100,000 Xenia cars per year for domestic market and export. “Indonesia’s automotive market keeps rising and it has become the most important market in the world for us. Today, Daihatsu produced 380,000 units, including for Toyota’s brand of Avanza,” DMC Vice President Masanori Mitsui said.

“The plant in Indonesia will become [Daihatsu’s] production base to supply both Daihatsu and Toyota.”

According to DMC executive officer Shigeharu Toda, demand is high in Indonesia for an affordable, comfortable car, preferably a seven-seater, with low fuel consumption and a spacious cabin.

“For such a demand, the answer is of course Xenia,” he told the press after a visit to Daihatsu’s 600,000-square-meter Shiga Technical Center. For the Japanese market, Daihatsu is focusing on its Mira e:S which was launched in September. The so-called third eco car — as it is neither a hybrid nor an electric vehicle — is claimed to be the cheapest compact car in Japan, priced at about Rp 85 million.

Despite still using a conventional engine, the car offers fuel efficiency of as high as 30 kilometers per liter. Daihatsu has sold 50,000 units of the Mira e:S since its launch in the Japanese market.

However, the Mira e:S will not enter Indonesia’s market, according to ADM marketing director Amelia Tjandra.

“There will be a transfer of technology which is now being applied to the Mira e:S to our cars produced in Indonesia. However, it won’t happen next year. It takes time for further study,” she said. “Maybe we need at least five years because we just launched the All New Xenia.”

DMC senior executive officer, Masahiro Fukutsuka, said that Daihatsu preferred to focus on the current conventional technology, but with improvements to increase fuel efficiency.

“There has been a forecast that by 2020 the conventional engine will still dominate the automotive market by up to 90 percent,” he said.

Fukutsuka said that by maximizing the conventional engine, Daihatsu was able to produce low-cost green cars compared to having to do research in diesel engines, hybrids and bioenergy vehicles.

According to Ina, compact cars — not only in size, but also with smaller engine as has been developed by Daihatsu with its 660 cc Copen sports car — have become popular all over the world.

“Just like our motto at this motor show ‘Big answer from small’, such an economical car is needed for urban people. They need fuel efficient cars that are still enjoyable to drive.”