Indonesia is Suffering the Consequences of China's EV Explosion

Electric vehicle naysayers love to talk about the environmental impact of mining raw materials for batteries. While those arguments are often rooted in some degree of truth, they’re generally made as the only argument and are levied without much evidence for support. Though it’s true that mining and processing nickel, cobalt, lithium, and other materials is awful for the environment, we’re learning more about the geopolitical and financial implications of the practice. 

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Indonesia Receives Mining Proposal From Tesla

Indonesia has reportedly received an investment proposal from Tesla Inc. requesting access to its nickel reserves. Once the largest producer of nickel in the entire world, Indonesia’s government started enacting regulations on the exportation of specific mineral ores in an effort to boost the local smelting industry and set up a more robust supply chain focused on lithium batteries.

This resulted in a huge price surge in 2019, as the nation began running mining opportunities under the noses of various industries that would be interested in the raw materials necessary for battery production.

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Toyota Spending $2 Billion to Develop Electric Cars in Indonesia

Having recently announced plans to “popularize” battery electric vehicles, Toyota now expects half of its global volume to stem from electrified cars by 2025. That’s five years sooner than originally promised.

Toyota may seem perpetually averse to change but it has been making a lot of moves behind the scenes to ensure it’s at the forefront of a shifting market while also trying to future proof itself in the event that electrification winds up being a dead end. The plan is rather complex and, as I don’t want to re-write a 900-word article, I would like to redirect you to the relevant information.

However, as nuanced as Toyota’s overall strategy may be, the company is still going to need to spend truckloads of cash to remain in the game. With that in mind, the Japanese automaker appears to be investing $2 billion to develop electric vehicles in Indonesia over the next four years — with hybrids being first on the docket.

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After Ford Calls It Quits In Indonesia, Dealers Tell Company to Pay Up

Indonesia is the biggest vehicle market in Southeast Asia, and Ford Motor Company is running away from it.

The automaker’s announcement earlier this year that it plans to stop selling vehicles in the country came as a shock to dealers, who now want Ford to compensate them in a big way, Reuters reports.

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TTAC News Round-up: Ford Leaving Japan, Indonesia; Detroit's Big Show; Kia Rio GT Coming?

The big Blue Oval is setting in the Land of the Rising Sun.

That, Volkswagen’s labor boss doesn’t like what he hears, Detroit’s big show and Kia’s big plans for the Rio … after the break!

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GM Retreats From Indonesia In Major Blow To Emerging Markets Strategy
Indonesia has long been touted as one of the next major emerging markets, and only four years ago, GM was set to make a major push in the Southeast Asian nation. But in a major about face, GM is essentially giving up on Indonesia, ending an 80 year manufacturing presence and transitioning solely to a sales and marketing arm.
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Datsun Dealing With Low Sales In Emerging Markets

Last year, Renault-Nissan resurrected Datsun, positioning the brand for emerging markets — like India, Russia and Indonesia — with a portfolio of models that would attract new, young consumers whose wallets were a bit thin.

It’s not quite working out thus far.

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Beyond The BRICs

Emerging markets have been a big theme at TTAC for the past few years, with our coverage going beyond the cursory articles on automotive developments in the BRIC countries. Our articles on places like North Africa and Indonesia aren’t always the most popular, but we keep an eye on them for a very important reason. These countries are the final frontier for growth in the automotive sector.

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We Called It: Next Datsun Is An MPV

Datsun’s newest vehicle, unveiled in Jakarta today, is a stretched version of the Go, dubbed the Go+. While this will elict a shrug of the shoulders for most of you, it’s an astute move by Datsun.

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More Datsuns On The Way – Could One Of Them Be A Minivan?

The Datsun Go is about to get some company, in the form of two new models developed for the Indonesian market.

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Datsun Is "Go", Frills Are A "No"

The wraps are finally off the first Datsun in decades – dubbed the Go, this will be Nissan’s major push into low cost motoring, with a starting price under $6,700.

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GM Takes On Toyota With No-Frills Spin

As far as emerging markets go, Indonesia is one of the hottest. “The country of 240 million people bought one million cars last year, and sales by some estimates are expected to double over the next three years,” says Reuters. The only trouble: Most of the cars are and will be Toyotas. GM wants to do something about it with a no-frill people mover designed in Brazil.

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QOTD: GM's Indonesian Foray

Reuters takes a look at GM’s attempts to turn around their decades-long slog in Indonesia, with this gem highlighting the nature of their struggle.

“We started in Indonesia in 1938. We have been so successful, we have seven-tenths of a point of market share in 75 years. Are you (kidding) me?” Tim Lee, head of GM’s international operations, said in an interview. “That is not constancy of purpose.”

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Best Selling Cars Around The Globe: What The Indonesians Bought In 2012

We continue our round-the-world-travels, exploring what the main car markets in the world looked like in 2012. We have gone through the Chinese, European, Russian, Indian, Israeli and Italian markets already, now let’s have a look at Indonesia…

Not really interested? That’s ok, you can check out the best-selling models and brands in 172 additional countries and territories on my blog. Enjoy!

Back to Indonesia. And for the first time ever in 2012, the Indonesian car market became… Damn me! You’re going to have to jump to find out…

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Hyundai Brass Hungry For Quality, Rank-And-File Seek Quantity

In a world obsessed with quantity, volume, economies of scale, speed, expedience and all that comes with it, wouldn’t it be nice if someone wanted to ease up a little and make sure things work?

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  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
  • ToolGuy Ford is good at drifting all right... 😉