Prabowo Wants Indonesia To Have A Mobnas In 3 Years, Observer: Can Imitate Vinfast And Proton

Vinfast electric car at the GIIAS 2025 exhibition. (Photo: Indra/VOI)

The discourse on the presence of a national car (mobnas) evaporated again after President Prabowo Subianto promised Indonesia would have its own homemade car within the next 3 years. He said the Indonesian government had prepared a special allocation of funds for the production of this Indonesian-made car.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is not yet an achievement but we have started to getrintis. We will have a car made in Indonesia in the next 3 years," Prabowo said at the Plenary Cabinet Session at the State Palace, Jakarta, Monday, October 20.

"I've allocated the funds, we've prepared the land for the factories. We're working now on the team. We've produced a sweater made in Indonesia," he continued.

Actually, Indonesia once had the ranks of Mobnas, unfortunately it was dim on the market and some were out of business. Automotive expert from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) Yannes Martinus Pasaribu, assessed that Indonesia could imitate what Vinfast from Vietnam did.

Where, Vinfast conducts market tests and establishes strategic collaboration. So Indonesia must start with a pretty good foundation, and develop several potential buyers like Proton did in Malaysia.

"Indonesia can imitate VinFast's formula which was successful because it built a strong foundation for 4 years. The focus of domestic market testing; strategic collaboration with world-class tier 3.2 industries that want to transfer core technology," Yannes said at VOI, Tuesday, October 21.

"Focus on BEVs, strengthen the economic scale of the domestically integrated battery ecosystem and orchestrate all potential buyers of local governments to enlarge their economic scale, as Proton did in Malaysia," he continued.

Yannes also said that as of January 2026, Indonesia began to firmly oversee TKDN which was gradual for 3 years from 40 percent to 80 percent. "So this 3-4 years focus on strengthening domestically, from supply chains to markets," he said.

Meanwhile, Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita (AGK) said he had proposed a national car program to be included in the list of National Strategic Projects (PSN). This is for the sake of realizing the mobnas so that it is not just a discourse.

"We certainly support and we have proposed a national car program to become PSN, a National Strategic Project. We have signed the proposal. If it has been used as a PSN, I think the realization will be faster," said Agus after the Plenary Cabinet Session.