Solo Mayor, Joko Widodo makes headlines again. With splashy action, he replaced his official vehicle, Toyota Camry with vocational student-made, Kiat Esemka. It suddenly rekindles the long awaited national car. And it draws both supports and criticisms.
Truth be told, Kiat Esemka has neither been long tested yet nor prepared for mass production. Solo Mayor, who in fact has good intention, is too fast to make it his official car.
Many also question who really design and build the engine as the important part of the car. Does it the solely wolishe rk of vocational students? Or does it imitate other manufacturer? Or do they buy it from other countries such as China?
Making a car is less difficult. Many can assemble it. All parts of car can easily be bought from all across the world. But the real car maker is the one who master the design, who master the engine technology and who master how to sell. Without these basic requirements, it can’t compete with long standing brands.
After all, Solo Mayor has made a good sales pitch for Kiat Esemka. Some have shown interests to buy the cars. But those buyers are still insignificant. So, the next uphill task of Kiat Esemka will be to make the car and spare parts mass produced, to establish research and development center for endless innovation, to market them, and to conduct after-sales services.
Can Kiat Esemka do these?
At this point, in my opinion, the government should guide the process. And on ground of similarity of culture and capacity, Indonesia’s Kiat Esemka can glean lessons learned from Malaysia’s Proton. The essence is that government intervention is a must.
Proton was established in 1983 as a government-linked company. It was the brainchild of the then Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohammad. Without adequate industrial management and skills, Proton can by no means build the car on its own. It asked Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors to cooperate. At first the product was 100% made by Mitsubishi. What Malaysia created was only Proton brand and management control.
Later Proton found the technology hardly transferred. Naturally foreign company will be reluctant to share its knowledge with local one. Nobody wants to borne a future competitor deliberately. However Proton shrewdly relinquished its dependence on Mitsubishi by buying another car manufacturer with state-of-the-art technology, Lotus in 1996. Since then, Proton has no barriers to access to the source of car technology. Mitsubishi sold all stakes in 2004.
In terms of marketing, Mahathir Mohammad unequivocally admitted that Proton domestic market had been protected during his era. He said that without protection, Malaysia would have no car industry. He also pointed out that Proton sales are hampered in Japan and Korea through Approved Permits policy. In a similar vein, Britain, America and German do the same, so why bother doing?
Proton sales have been ups and downs. But as a car maker, it has relatively been well established with technology mastering and market share. And the success of Malaysia developing its national car is inextricably linked with government support.
Foreign car brands have ruled the roost in Indonesia’s domestic market for decades. It’s time to change the game. National car is not merely about making car. Sometimes it can quench national pride. And in the process it can also grow the economy with value added products.
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