The new era of electric vehicle (EV) drives Wuling Motors to develop more EV cars in the future in Indonesia. With a thousand pre-orders on its latest products in 2022, Wuling Indonesia is currently following suit its parent company in China to develop more EVs for the market segment in Indonesia which is presently high-end.
PT SGMW Motor Indonesia, also known as SAIC General Motors Wuling Motor Indonesia, is a subsidiary of SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile (SGMW) – a joint venture (JV) between SAIC Motor, General Motors and Liuzhou Wuling Motors Co. Ltd. in Indonesia. Wuling Motor has a factory in Greenland International Industrial Center in Cikarang, Bekasi Regency, West Java. The factory, built in 2015, has a land area of 600,000 square meters including a supplier park, production and manufacturing. The factory building is intended as a Southeast Asian export base. Wuling Motor Indonesia itself is the first automotive company from China. The company currently has 82,365 customers; with 136 dealers and 23 awards.
Meanwhile, PT SGMW Multifinance is a JV company between four principal shareholders namely, SAIC Motor HK Investment Ltd, PT SGMW Motor Indonesia, General Motor Financial Inc and PT Sinarmas Multiartha Tbk with a total investment of IDR600 billion in 2022. In 2019, the company has 130 dealer coverage areas for Wuling, MG as well as ongoing support from HSBC which is part of the SAIC Group.
Pursuing affordable universal coverage of EV
Wuling Indonesia with its first new product Air EV will pursue a smaller market segment in the near future. Yet, the number of pre-orders for Air EV is high during the opening day of the Gaikindo (Association of Indonesian Automotive Manufacturers) Indonesia International Auto Show (GIIAS) at the ICE BSD Serpong from August 11-21, 2022.
“What we see is that the excitement for this EV car is quite big, the bookings are already quite large. In Indonesia, there are already a thousand people who have booked with Wuling Air EV,” said Kevin Eleazar Alam, Risk management supervisor of PT SGMW Multifinance in an interview with Indonesia Business Post on August 11, 2022.
Wuling will also focus on developing a more price-friendly EV car in the near future to grasp the market segment of Indonesia and compete with other car manufacturers such as Honda, Hyundai, Toyota, Nissan and others.
“We have a vision, we want to be a brand like Astra here too. We want to expand. That’s why we are launching products, but because we are a Chinese brand so we start with value-oriented first… In the future, we will continue to maintain the low and high segments as well. So, we are universal,” Alam said, referring to Astra business conglomeration in which Honda and Toyota in Indonesia are parts of it.
On the other hand, Wuling is optimistic about its EV product in Indonesia, with the ongoing pursuit of net-zero emission. The company hopes the government would help in its effort of supplying EV cars in the future while being competitive with other EV car developer manufacturers.
“We have to pay for more research, we have to build a factory. That’s why we sell it in Indonesia, which is quite expensive. But, even so, this is still the most affordable EV car in Indonesia, the price is IDR300 million compared to the previous one,” Alam added.
Challenges for Wuling in Indonesian automotive market
The lack of charging stations in Indonesia makes EV cars can only be used in Jakarta despite Wuling’s optimism to develop the environmentally friendliest cars available to all classes of society.
Battery charging stations are not available widely, even at the outskirt of the Greater Jakarta (Jabodetabek). This prevents EV car owners to go far from the charging stations.
According to Alam, since Indonesia is big but has limited infrastructure, it would be difficult for EV car owners to go out of town frequently. Charging an EV car can take a long time.
On the other hand, EV car owners may lack the necessary facilities for electricity to charge their vehicles at home. Not to mention, the lack of electricity output that causes a long charging time for their cars and furthermore the lack of charging stations nearby.
“If you use a fast charger, it will charge quickly. But charging at home will require between 4,000 and 6,000 Watts of electricity to charge quickly,” Alam said.
As the number of customers switching to EV cars is increasing, several carmakers have provided charging stations in public places such as in malls. However, they are exclusive for the certain brand. Car owners from different brands have to queue before able to charge their cars.
