Geely restarts Indonesian ambitions; national EV car project becoming a reality after all?
Sanjay · Mar 19, 2024 09:55 AM
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It seems that Geely is restarting its Indonesian ambitions, as evident by the company's brand-new Instagram account, @geelyautoindonesia.
There's still no posts yet and the following is still pretty small, but that's understandable given that the Chinese conglomerate's last showing in the archipelago was marked by lukewarm sales, ultimately leading to them leaving the market in 2016.
With cars that looked like this back then, it's little wonder why Geely's first shot at Indonesia didn't work out
6 years on, it seems that the company is returning refreshed, presumeably to set into motion the national battery electric vehicle (BEV) project mooted by the government last year.
In September 2023, a minister announced that Geely agreed to make cars in Indonesia, "as an Indonesian brand" with research and developement taking place locally. President Joko Widodo also allegedly agreed to the proposal, provided that the research is led by Indonesians.
Geely Geometry C - think of it as an Proton X50 EV
According to the minister, Geely agreed to collaborate with the country to develop its national EV project which would be launched by 2025 or 2026.
In exchange, Indonesia would be supplying nickel ore to produce EV batteries for the Chinese carmaker which also owns Volvo and Smart.
Still, there's no official word from Geely over this latest development, though their moves in other countries in the region doesn't rule out expansion into Indonesia.
Most recently, Zeekr – Geely's luxury BEV arm – has confirmed that they'll start sales in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, and the Philippines, among others, in stages throughout 2024.
With humble beginnings collecting diecast models and spending hours virtually tuning dream cars on the computer, his love of cars has delightfully transformed into a career. Sanjay enjoys how the same passion for cars transcends boundaries and brings people together.
