Author | Guo Zhaochuan
Edit | Song Han
April 22 is Eid al-Fitr in Indonesia.
Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the local fasting month and is the largest public holiday in Indonesia. From April 19 to April 26 after Eid al-Fitr, a large number of Indonesians and locals began to travel to other cities to meet their families, and after returning home, they carried out a series of activities such as shopping for New Year goods and eating iftar.
According to relevant data, more than 8 million Jakarta "Yapiao" will choose to drive "back to their hometown" at this time every year. A large number of long-distance buses hit the road, and traffic congestion can be seen everywhere. The traffic situation in Indonesia before and after Eid al-Fitr is comparable to the pressure of the "Spring Festival" in China.
With the entry of Chinese car companies into the Indonesian market, Eid al-Fitr has also become a "hot period" for car companies to seize business opportunities for marketing and provide localized after-sales service to accumulate word of mouth.
This year, Wuling launched a special Eid service event in Indonesia called "Wuling Siaga Mudik 2023". That is to say, from Java, Medan, and Palembang Island in Indonesia to Makassar and Denpasar, more than 70 cities and towns have emergency roadaid services arranged by the Chinese car company Wuling specifically for Indonesia's "Spring Festival".
Wuling's development and growth in Indonesia is only a microcosm of domestic car companies, especially new energy vehicle companies, going overseas in Indonesia.
In fact, with Indonesia's policy to actively promote the landing and investment of domestic batteries and electric vehicles, more and more Chinese new energy vehicle companies, smelters and battery manufacturers have regarded Indonesia as a suitable manufacturing center and a broad future market that urgently needs to be quickly seized.
What is the current market status and expansion of Chinese new energy vehicle companies in Indonesia? What are the new energy vehicles that Indonesian locals like to buy, and what are the car buying tendencies? What are the strong competitors these Chinese car brands that are working hard to enter the Indonesian new energy market, and what clever localization marketing strategies have they made?
Source: Wuling Indonesia official website
"Chinese car companies have given me unlimited possibilities"
The battle for Chinese car companies to go to sea in Southeast Asia is becoming increasingly fierce.
Eldi, who is in charge of the after-sales work of Chinese car company Wuling in the Indonesian market, told Xiaguang, "As far as I know, there are more than 130 local dealers selling Wuling brand in Indonesia, and there are many sales points in the mall, and there is a special store 'Wuling Center' to sell Wuling new energy vehicles." ”
A native of Indonesia, he has been with Chinese car company Wuling for more than six years. Before that, he worked at Japanese car company Honda in Indonesia.
The rapid development of Chinese car companies in Indonesia in recent years has deeply shocked him and strengthened his confidence to join Chinese car companies going overseas.
"I am grateful for this work experience at Wuling." Eldi told Kasumiko, "Although I felt very secure working at Honda before, there was very little room for improvement, and the company system was set, so there was no room to play. ”
But in China, companies going overseas are completely different: "Chinese car companies are obviously more flexible, and they need to use personal motivation and make a lot of decisions." According to him, the job gave him more "experiences that he would never have imagined," such as going to business negotiations with the government and other cooperative companies.
There are many Indonesian locals like Eldi who work at Chinese car companies. By going overseas by Chinese new energy brands, they have a larger platform to realize their ideas and talents.
At the same time, they have experienced the "roll" of Chinese companies – more room for market judgment and decision-making work, which means they will take more responsibility and devote their careers entirely to this fast-growing Chinese overseas car company.
Andy, who makes a headhunting in Indonesia, told Xiaguang that because a large number of Chinese car companies produce and sell in Southeast Asia, they are also extensively looking for new energy vehicle professionals in the local market.
He knows BYD, SAIC-GM-Wuling, Chery Automobile, Dongfeng Xiaokang Automobile, etc., in addition to new forces such as NETA and Leap.
Dongfeng has a joint venture brand DFSK in Indonesia
Andy introduced, "BYD mainly cooperates with Indonesia's bus industry, and many of the buses on Jakarta Road are BYD's. ”
Chery Automobile is also investing heavily in Indonesia, according to local media reports, Chery will invest 1 billion US dollars in Indonesia and is estimated to be able to produce pure electric vehicles in the second half of this year.
In addition to the Indonesian market, many Chinese new energy vehicles have recently gone overseas in Southeast Asia:
Wuling exported a batch of cars to Vietnam in February, and also participated in the 2023 Indonesia International Auto Show, where it unveiled its new model Alvez; BYD shipped ATTO3 from Shanghai to Thailand and Malaysia in large quantities earlier this year; According to industry insiders, Nezha Motors also contacts talents in Indonesia, Laos and Malay.
It is no accident that domestically produced new energy vehicles are going overseas in Southeast Asia, especially in Indonesia. In the past two years, the "passionate investment" of the Indonesian investment department on major occasions has become a beautiful talk and has been widely spread in the Southeast Asian overseas circle.
The large number of policies issued by Indonesian officials alone have greatly supported the new energy vehicle industry. Not long ago, on April 3, the Indonesian government announced that it would cut the VAT on the sale of battery electric vehicles from 11% to 1%. Such a large tax reduction policy has undoubtedly added another fire to Indonesia's new energy vehicle market, which has been burning for a long time.
Indonesia's official support for new energy to go overseas is not only to lay out the future new energy transportation map, but also to make full use of Indonesia's rich nickel mineral resources.
On April 18, according to Bloomberg, Indonesian Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said in a video released by Volkswagen that Volkswagen will soon cooperate with companies such as Huayou Cobalt to invest in the construction of an automotive battery ecosystem in Indonesia. This involves not only Volkswagen's investment plan to establish an integrated EV battery industry in Indonesia through its subsidiary PowerCo, but also transactions on the supply chain side of raw materials.
According to the 21st Century Business Herald, as the largest Chinese energy storage company in the global market share of energy storage, CATL is laying out the capacity construction of Indonesian nickel mines, and is expected to set up a factory in 2024, and is working with Indonesian partners to promote laterite nickel mining and smelting projects and promote the improvement of the entire battery industry chain.
In 2022, Bloomberg also reported that in order to ensure the supply of nickel ore resources in the next 10 years, Chinese-funded companies invested more than $32 in Indonesia last year.
Kelvin, the founder of Indonesian investment service provider AnyHelper, also told Xiaguang that when they led an investor group to Indonesia in January this year, they were warmly received by the Indonesian vice minister of investment.
The other party told them, "From the data of the fourth quarter of 2022, China has become the largest source of foreign capital in Indonesia, and more Chinese investors are very welcome to visit Indonesia in the next stage." ”
In an official investment promotion document called "Welcome China Ventures Delegation" updated in January 2023, Indonesia has made it clear that they are particularly interested in green and low-carbon energy, based on nickel's future plans, and ultimately hope to become an "exporter" of electric vehicles.
Source: Investment promotion documents of the Indonesian Ministry of Investment
Follow Xiaguang Society, add Xiaguang Society's assistant, you can get the full version of the [Indonesian Investment Department Investment Promotion Document] PPT. It includes official data on Indonesian investment, detailed industries and policies, and the overseas research information of Chinese investment in Indonesia.
Indonesia: A unique market like no other
During our interviews, almost every interviewee who directly attacked the overseas market of new energy vehicles in Southeast Asia mentioned the uniqueness of the Indonesian market.
Kurtianto, who graduated from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and has been engaged in automobile-related industries for a long time after returning to Indonesia, told Xiaguang that if you want to sell cars in Indonesia, you must pay attention to at least these three unique characteristics:
First, Indonesia rarely sees "small families" of "families of three", many of which are multi-person families with four or five children. So "a car is never the first choice". Even if they have limited economic ability, they will choose a 7-seater car, but if not, they will choose a 5-seater small SUV.
In fact, in the early years, Japanese brands that occupied the Indonesian passenger car market on a large scale grasped this characteristic of local cars in Indonesia.
Japan's Toyota's 7-seater Avanza is super large and inexpensive, which translates into more than 100,000 yuan, so it is very popular in the Indonesian market. The same goes for Japan's Mitsubishi's Expander, a small seven-seat crossover with a strong chassis designed specifically for the Indonesian market, first launched at the Jakarta Motor Show.
And these are basically fuel vehicles. This is why, although Indonesia's official crazy policy to promote the popularity of electric vehicles, Indonesia's electric vehicles, and even gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles have a very limited market share - there are not many gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles with such characteristics, and Toyota PRIUS may still be one of the higher-selling hybrid cars.
Nowadays, many Chinese overseas car companies have adjusted their overseas model design and product configuration based on this characteristic of the Indonesian market, and are preparing to launch electric and hybrid large vehicles with larger capacity and more suitable for the Indonesian market.
Second, the layout of charging piles required for trams is extremely limited in Indonesia.
A large number of domestic enterprises that do electric vehicle charging piles are deployed in Guangdong Province. Lao Li, the founder of a Guangdong electric vehicle charging pile company in Zhuhai, told us, "Instead of investing in Indonesian electric vehicles now, it is better to invest in electric vehicle charging piles - now there are basically invisible charging piles on the Jakarta road, and the infrastructure is not perfect, but their PLN (National Power Company) has tasks and has been actively looking for investment and cooperation." ”
Kurtianto also said that if an electric car is purchased in Indonesia, the scope of the car's movement is largely limited to Jakarta, because although there are few charging piles in Jakarta, they can still be found. "But you got out of Jakarta to go to the outer islands, and you have to take a boat, right?" Your car also has to be on the boat, so there is no way to guarantee that it will be charged when you go to the outer islands. ”
The lack of charging pile layout has indeed caused great concerns for local Indonesian consumers to purchase electric vehicles.
Third, as a vast new energy vehicle market in the future, Indonesia cannot ignore local climate factors.
Indonesia is a country where it rains a lot, and according to local feedback, large-scale flooding often occurs during the rainy season, and vehicles are flooded.
"Basically, every year there are electric vehicles that are flooded so that they can't be driven." Kurtianto said he still remembers the flooding of his vehicle a few years ago: "I remember when I first returned to Indonesia in early 2020, the whole of Jakarta was paralyzed by heavy rains, and many cars were flooded. ”
Although efforts have been made to build various canals in recent years to facilitate the drainage of citizens, no one can guarantee that their cars will not be flooded when the water level is high in the future.
In this case, "even if you buy a car that burns oil, it is possible that there is no way to start because of stagnant water, not to mention that this is an electric car." "As a result, many Indonesians wonder: What if my car doesn't drive during the rainy season?"
Therefore, the significance of after-sales service and road assistance in Indonesia's new energy market is particularly significant. When commenting on the Chinese brand's new energy vehicles, an Indonesian friend mentioned the excellent rescue service: "I can find customer service chat at any time and ask for the help I want, which is to ensure this sense of security for customers." ”
Chinese tram brands, opportunities and challenges
"China's tram SAIC-GM-Wuling really basically solved the problem of Indonesians' household charging piles." Eldi, who is familiar with Wuling after-sales, said.
They partnered with local Indonesian companies to provide users with a service called "home charging."
In other words, Wuling will install charging equipment at home for free to Indonesians who buy their cars, so that they can charge at home without having to find charging piles anywhere. This sales strategy has allowed Wuling to obtain a lot of customers in Indonesia who travel in the city without having to travel long distances.
In addition, the Indonesian government has a policy of discounting charging electricity bills from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m., so that local consumers can save 30% of their electricity bills, and charging trams overnight only costs about 20 yuan.
In addition, China's new energy trams are also facing more market-level opportunities and benefits in Indonesia.
China New Energy's local marketing activities in Indonesia
In large cities such as Jakarta, Indonesia, citizens are also facing the problem of affecting travel due to the restriction of oil vehicles, and according to the regulations, there is no limit to driving electric vehicles locally.
When encountering oil truck restrictions and traffic congestion, China-made small electric vehicles just occupy this market gap with unlimited numbers and easy movement. In addition, the design of China's electric vehicles represented by Wuling is very beautiful, so it has won the love of many young consumers.
However, due to the long-term deep cultivation of Japanese fuel vehicle brands in the Indonesian market, there are still many challenges for Chinese new energy vehicles to go overseas in Indonesia.
Bagas is the CEO of Indonesia's DEHAKA Group and has long provided localization consulting services to Japanese car company Mitsubishi. He told Xiaguang News Agency: "Japan's new energy vehicles, in addition to Mitsubishi in Indonesia, there are Toyota, Honda, Nissan and so on. Many Japanese car companies have long established assembly line factories in Indonesia, from auto parts to assembly and sales one-stop service. ”
So these Japanese fuel vehicles are assembled directly in Indonesia, which is not "imported" at all, so the price is very affordable and very popular with locals.
Although more and more locals have obtained the Indonesian government's new energy vehicle purchase subsidies (the subsidy amount is about tens of thousands of yuan), the market share of Nissan brand fuel vehicles in Indonesia is still very high, and the overall market volume of new energy is still very small.
According to his observation, "you can see on the road that more than 80% of them may be Japanese (fuel) vehicles", but the market share of Japanese-made new energy vehicles in Indonesia may be less than 10%.
In the case that Japanese brand fuel vehicles already have a market foundation, Japanese car brands are also "attacking" the new energy side.
After July last year, Japanese automaker Toyota said it would invest 27.1 trillion rupees to produce electric vehicles in Indonesia. Japanese automaker Mitsubishi, on the other hand, is also actively promoting pure electric vehicle projects in cooperation with large companies such as Gojek in Indonesia. Japanese automaker Honda is building a new energy assembly plant in Indonesia and plans to sell more than 50,000 electric vehicles in the country.
"Japanese car companies have been building factories in Indonesia for a long time, and the relationship with the Indonesian government is better, and it may be that in the future new energy vehicle competition, everyone will tend to choose new energy Japanese cars out of trust in Japanese cars." Bagas told Kasumiko.
In addition to Japanese new energy vehicle companies, South Korean new energy vehicles are also a considerable new force to compete with Chinese and Chinese new energy vehicle companies going overseas in the Indonesian market:
"Many Indonesians choose new energy vehicles to use South Korea's Hyundai, and South Korea's Hyundai electric vehicles are very publicized in Indonesia, TV commercials, airport screens, and Hyundai Motor's new energy vehicle advertisements can be seen everywhere." Bagas said.
In May last year, South Korea's Hyundai Motor announced that it would invest an additional 1.92 trillion won (9.85 billion yuan) in Indonesia, increasing its annual production capacity from 150,000 to 250,000 units.
In addition to the huge publicity and capacity addition, South Korea has already laid out on the energy side.
According to Reuters, South Korean consortiums such as Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution have cooperated with Indonesian mining groups and battery companies to build battery joint venture plants, including smelting and refining nickel ore, manufacturing precursors, cathode materials and batteries.
In the face of the perennial accumulation of Japanese car companies and the vigorous promotion of Korean car companies, China's overseas new energy vehicle companies are also making their own countermeasures. During the G20 summit, the domestic new energy brand Wuling provided 300 official cooperative vehicles to the conference.
An industry insider familiar with Indonesia's business environment told Xiaguang, "Last year's G20 summit was a good publicity for Chinese car companies, and with the endorsement of the G20 and the government, Chinese overseas brands have better opened up the market in Indonesia." ”
In fact, China, Japan, and South Korea are currently facing different advantages and disadvantages for new energy vehicles in Indonesia.
But in the final analysis, the future battle for Indonesia's new energy market still depends on the localization services of major brands. For example, 24-hour emergency roadside assistance adapted to local conditions in Indonesia, free vehicle maintenance, infrastructure for pure electric vehicles and charging pile layout support.
Indonesia's new energy vehicle market is gradually improving under the strong promotion of local officials, and increasingly fierce competition also requires overseas car companies to take localization measures to cope with market changes:
For example, a series of improvements such as launching popular models, increasing publicity to increase brand awareness, increasing energy cooperation to promote the popularization of charging piles, and improving service quality can seize the opportunities in Indonesia's new energy market and resist competitive pressure from other automakers.