The automaker is expected to roll out Rp 5.7 trillion (US$375 million) as part of this year’s Rp 12.3 trillion investment plan in Indonesia, according to an Industry Ministry statement on Wednesday.

With the investment, Mitsubishi plans to increase the production capacity of its facility in Deltamas, West Java, to around 231,000 cars in 2024 from projected 176,000 cars this year, the statement also says.

 “We greatly appreciate Mitsubishi for its commitment to getting involved with developing Indonesia’s competitive automotive industry ecosystem,” said Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita after a meeting with MMC president and CEO Takao Kato.

Kato said the company also targeted increasing its exports to 98,000 cars next year.

“We restarted the production of the pickup truck model L300 in April 2023, then we will export the Pajero Sport to Australia in December 2023,” Kato said.

According to Association of Indonesian Automotive Manufacturers (Gaikindo) data, Mitsubishi Motors in Indonesia held the fourth-largest market share in the country with sales of 97,936 units last year.

The same data also show it exported 65,743 cars last year, making it the third-largest Indonesian exporter of cars.

In the first six months of this year it exported more than 40,463 cars, Gaikindo data also show.

Agus added that Mitsubishi is currently preparing to manufacture a pure EV car in the form of a battery electric vehicle (BEV) in the facility, set to start production in December this year.

On top of that, Kato said that Mitsubishi would also launch hybrid EV (HEV) and plug-in hybrid EV (PHEV) models in the Indonesian market, which is a mix between battery and combustion engines.

Agus said that for the first phase, the EV model that MMC would produce and market in Indonesia would be the Minicab-MiEV, which has seen commercial-usage pilot projects with PT Pos Indonesia, PT Haleyora Power, Gojek and DHL Supply Chain Indonesia.

In addition, Agus emphasized that the government is determined to create a conducive investment climate for businesses in Indonesia by implementing pro-business policies such as tax exemptions.

The government is looking at nullifying the value-added tax and import duty for completely built up (CBU) car imports in the hope of boosting domestic interest in EV usage, he said. CBU refers to cars imported as totally finished products rather than being manufactured in Indonesia.

“The incentive formula is currently being discussed by the government. There are two approaches, total CBU imports determined by investment value, and, secondly, based on production,” explained Agus.

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