Indonesian conglomerate PT Astra International Tbk is planning to develop electric vehicles (EVs) more aggressively in the next two years as it works on ramping up their infrastructure and ecosystem, a top executive told media on Tuesday.
Djony Bunarto Tjondro, President Director of Astra International, said the company has a 50-56% market share in the automotive industry which shows the strength of Astra’s products in Indonesia. Hybrid cars — the company’s main focus — still dominates the market.
“However, EV also presents an opportunity to grow in the market with better models, more supporting infrastructure, and public demand,” he said.
Astra is confident of competing in the market riding on its strong ecosystem including production, sales network, after-sales network, and financial services.
“We plan to launch a battery electric vehicle (BEV) under Toyota Astra Motor as well as sell more two-wheeler EVs under Astra Honda Motor in the next two years,” Tjondro explained.
As for the after-sales market, Hamdhani Dzulkarnaen Salim, President Director and CEO of Astra Otoparts, said the company is developing EV components that can serve the Indonesian as well as regional market. It also plans to sell electric power to the EV community and add charging stations.
“We aim for 10% of EV charging stations in Indonesia to be from Astra (excluding Indonesian energy power firm PLN charging stations); we will also collaborate with PLN for this,” he said.
Besides EVs, Astra will also work on other business opportunities that can support the company not only in the short term but also in the long term. Toll infrastructure and healthcare are the sectors that Astra is closely looking at.
In the first three months of 2024 (Q1 2024), Astra posted a net profit of 7.5 trillion rupiah, 14% lower compared to the same period last year at 8.7 trillion rupiah. The performance was dragged down mainly by its heavy equipment and mining as well as automotive businesses.
Astra recorded a 2% drop in net revenue to 81.2 trillion rupiah in Q1 2024 from 83 trillion rupiah in Q1 2023.
