Still Riding Handal, Geely Opens Opportunity To Build Its Own Factory In Indonesia

JAKARTA Geely Auto Indonesia is starting to open up opportunities to have its own production facilities in the country. Currently, all Geely vehicles are still being assembled at a factory owned by PT Handal Indonesia Motor, which is their official assembly partner.

However, the option to build a factory itself is not closed, especially if sales and line of Geely models continue to grow rapidly. Geely Auto Indonesia Brand Director Yusuf Anshori, said that his party still uses local partner-owned facilities to meet domestic market needs.

"If you say the plan, it's a very long term. So, you can't say whether the realization is now, not yet. But we are one, look at the market. Second, our line-up is actually a lot," Yusuf told reporters in Tangerang, Wednesday, October 29.

According to Yusuf, Geely's main focus is currently still on strengthening the market and expanding product recognition in Indonesia. After the launch of Geely Starray EM-i, the Chinese manufacturer plans to bring in more models, both with conventional gasoline machines (ICE) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) technology.

"In Geely, maybe we still want to see, because we only sold one, yes. But, if for example, later we have sold ICE, we have sold PHEV, it has been seven or five models, and it doesn't fulfill it, like it or not," said Yusuf.

He explained that the construction of new local production facilities would be carried out if sales volume and number of models increased significantly. This step is in line with Geely's long-term strategy to strengthen the domestic supply chain as well as take advantage of various domestic industrial incentives provided by the government.

As long as it can still collaborate and get incentives, the important thing is to be able to produce locally. Even though the production is done with partners. The more (models launched), the more or less you want to make (factories)," he explained.

The factory in Purwakarta is currently projected to become Geely's main war engine in Indonesia. Its production capacity is also not kidding, which is able to assemble up to 60 units per day and its annual target is around 10,000 to 15,000 units.