Indonesia Tax Cut Boosts Electric Car Sales For Hyundai And Wuling

Sanghoon Yoon, an executive with Hyundai Motor Asean, told Reuters on the sidelines of an energy transition seminar in Jakarta that sales of Hyundai Motor Co's sport-utility vehicle IONIQ 5, a model eligible for the tax cut, increased threefold to more than 600 units in April compared to the previous month.

He added that subsidies from the government will help increase demand for EVs as their prices are very expensive because of the battery.

Hyundai plans to sell 10,000 IONIQ 5 models in Indonesia this year, aided by a tax cut and a decrease in semiconductor chip shortages, he said. This compares to 3,000 units sold since the model's debut in 2021. Wuling Air EV sales, a small car manufactured by SGMW Motor Indonesia, a joint venture (JV) that includes Chinese firm Wuling Motors Holdings, increased by more than 80% month on month to more than 740 units, according to Dian Asmahani, marketing director for the JV's Indonesian arm. In Indonesia, these two models are the most popular electric vehicles.

Hyundai's Yoon stated that the South Korean company intends to launch more battery-EV models in Indonesia in order to capitalise on the growing market. According to Fitch Ratings, sales of four-wheeled EVs, including hybrid models, in Indonesia are expected to exceed 50,000 units in 2023, up from 20,681 units in 2018, with government incentives providing potential upside to the forecast.