Indonesia says Mitsubishi Motors to beef up local production

JAKARTA: Mitsubishi Motors Corp plans to invest about 10 trillion rupiah (RM2.9bil) in Indonesia between 2022 and 2025, the country's chief economics minister said today.

Airlangga Hartarto in a statement said the Japanese company had invested 11.3 trillion rupiah up to 2021 and was planning to expand its production in the South-East Asian country.

The statement quoted Mitsubishi Motors CEO Takao Kato as saying the company planned to produce hybrid electric vehicles and battery electric vehicles in Indonesia.

He said Mitsubishi was aiming to increase its export capacity from Indonesia to 72,000 units this year and to 98,000 units in 2024, from 42,000 units in 2021.

Airlangga met Mitsubishi's executives during a visit in Tokyo, where they also discussed potential fiscal incentives for the company's exported products.

"Indonesia's tax rate is actually competitive compared to other countries such as Thailand," Airlangga said.

"However, there are different regional taxes which make taxes seems bigger in Indonesia, this is what we are reviewing at the central government," he said, without elaborating.

Indonesian president Joko Widodo was due to visit Japan later this week.