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Govt rekindles 'national car' pipe dream
President Prabowo Subianto has not given up on the country’s plan for homegrown automotive brands even after past leaders have failed to achieve mass production of a “national car”.
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Newly inaugurated President Prabowo Subianto (center) waves to his supporters as he heads to the State Palace in a civilian adaptation of the Maung tactical vehicle, built by state-owned arms maker PT Pindad, after the inauguration ceremony at the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta on Oct. 20, 2024. (AFP/Juni Kriswanto)
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resident Prabowo Subianto has rekindled Indonesia’s decades-old dream of a homegrown automotive brand even though past leaders have failed to achieve mass production of a “national car”.
“I cannot accept the fact that the fourth-most populous country in the world, a country that has been given rich resources by Almighty God with all of the elements needed to develop a country still can’t produce its own cars, motorcycles [and] computers,” he said during a central and local government coordination meeting in Bogor, West Java, on Nov. 7.
Prabowo has declared his intention to build a domestic car brand in the past. “We will have our own Indonesian-made car,” he was quoted as saying by news agency Antara at a campaign event in Lebak, Banten, on Dec. 3 last year, ahead of the presidential election in February.
Prabowo, while still serving as defense minister in the last administration, expressed his enthusiasm for the Maung tactical vehicle built by state-owned arms maker PT Pindad and vowed to increase its local content from 73 percent to 90 percent within three years.
He made headlines on Oct. 20 when he rode in for his inauguration using a civilian adaptation of the Maung.
Read also: Pindad begins Maung vehicle production for high-level officials
Automotive industry expert Bebin Djuana told The Jakarta Post on Monday that Indonesia had tried several times to establish a national vehicle brand but failed due to low-quality standards and poor branding.
