Responding To The Minister Of Industry Regarding D-cab Imports, Isuzu And Toyota Open Their Voices

PT Isuzu Astra Motor Indonesia (IAMI) and PT Toyota Astra Motor (TAM) responded to the statement of the Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang regarding the import of double cabin vehicles (double cabin/D-cab).

Recently, Minister Agus asked the principal of four-wheeled manufacturers to re-evaluate the idea of choosing Thailand as a center for commercial vehicle production, including D-cab rather than Indonesia.

He also highlighted that the majority of these vehicles are present in Indonesia but have not yet been produced locally, aka still with CBU (Completely Built Up) status or complete imports from outside countries.

Responding to this, the Head of Business Operations & Strategy of PT IAMI, Attias Asril said the government needed to provide the right incentives to be able to make this happen.

"Certainly there should be compensation or supporting incentives, otherwise, and if (only) what it is like now,'moving all the factories' may be tough," he said, quoting Antara.

Attias said that further calculations were needed to move factories to the country or make Indonesia a production center for commercial vehicles, including D-cab.

"The image is like this, how big is the market? How many players play there? So in that year how much each if divided equally? If it is moved, with only that much, will the price be expensive or not? How affordable should it be? What should be? The calculations are like that," said Attias.

Toyota also revealed the same thing, which is currently still importing Toyota Hilux's flagship pickup in the form of CBU from Thailand.

Marketing Director of PT TAM Anton Jimmy revealed that there are several factors that are still imported, especially the Indonesian market which tends to three-line passenger cars (3-row seats).

"Production has many factors, Indonesia is strong in 3-row seaters, that's why we are strong in Calya, Avanza, Innova, if you look at any country in ASEAN, Indonesia is the center, but if the central pickup is in Thailand," Anton said at a press conference in Jakarta, Tuesday (19/3).

"So if indeed Indonesia wants to produce a pickup, the pickup market must be enlarged," he added.

Furthermore, Anton revealed that the largest pickup and D-cab car markets in the world are in Thailand and the United States, the market is above 50 percent, or around 400 thousand units.

"I agree that we want localization, but we must also be realistic that Indonesia is a country whose focus is 3-row shelter, and actually what we expect, rather than looking at the priorities of the pickup, we must maintain those that already exist in Indonesia, including hybrids," said Anton.

Based on data from the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) as of January 2024, Thailand's automotive sales are still dominated by D-cab cars, with sales of Toyota Hilux as many as 9,354 units and second-placed Isuzu D-Max with a sales volume of 9,325 units.