JAKARTA (Jan 20): China's top electric vehicle maker BYD aims to complete its US$1 billion (RM4.5 billion) plant in Indonesia at the end of 2025, the head of its local unit said on Monday, underscoring the firm's ambition to dominate in the market where Japanese automakers are popular.

The long-term plan for the plant is for the export market, said Eagle Zhao, BYD's president director in Indonesia.

"Every single progression of our local manufacturing is quite smooth and also on the track. We will keep our commitment, which is by end-2025, we will complete the construction works," Zhao said in a joint interview with Reuters and CNBC Indonesia.

The plant, which is being built at an industrial complex in Subang, West Java, will have a production capacity of 150,000 EV units annually.

With the investment, BYD has been allowed to temporarily ship its cars into Indonesia without import duties, a policy aimed to stimulate demand for EVs while attracting investment by automakers. The government aims for 600,000 EVs to be domestically produced by 2030.

In 2024, its first year of sales in Indonesia, BYD sold 15,429 units, auto association data showed. According to January to November figures, BYD was the leader in terms of battery-based EV sales with about 36% of the market share.

Zhao said he expected the new plant to produce its first cars not long after the completion of construction.

BYD has so far introduced four models in Indonesia, namely the Seal sedan, the Atto 3 SUV, the Dolphin hatchback and the M6 seven-seater MPV, which was its most sold model out of the four last year.

Zhao added that the company planned to introduce more models this year, without specifying how many, in order to book a "rapid growth" in sales in 2025. BYD is to also launch its premium Denza brand in Indonesia this week.

BYD, which overshot its global sales target to more than four million units sold last year, has been stepping up its presence in Southeast Asia, challenging the car market dominated by Japanese and Korean firms.

Last year, BYD opened its first EV plant in the region, in Thailand, worth US$490 million and which has a production capacity of 150,000 units per year, including plug-in hybrids.

In Singapore, BYD widened its sales lead over Tesla in the first half of 2024.

Uploaded by Magessan Varatharaja