National Car Name's ESEMKA

Jakarta:The Kiat Esemka Sport utility vehicle (SUV) is not the first car to be produced by Indonesia. According to Wikipedia, national automotive businessmen have developed 16 other brands since the 1990s. Unfortunately, most of the innovative projects collapsed due to problems including the monetary crisis and political turbulence in 1998.

Bakrie and Brothers developed the first national car in 1994. The Beta 97 MPV minibus was designed by UK-based automotive designer, Shado. The prototype of Beta was released in 1997 but the development was terminated due to the monetary crisis.

A year later, President Soeharto issued a policy on the development of a national car, Timor, which was short f orTeknologi Industri Mobil Rakyat. His youngest son, Hutomo Mandala Putra, developed the Timor S515 sedan, which was a derivation of Korea’s Kia Sephia 1995. Further developments were halted due to the monetary crisis.

At the same time, Timor, B.J. Habibie, the then research and technology minister, designed a car called Maleo. The 1,200 cc car was made with 80 percent local components and was supposed to be sold at Rp30 million. The development also ended as the research fund was used for Timor.

However, not all national car projects failed. Besides Esemka, there are currently several brands that are ready to be marketed, such as the GEA mini car produced by PT Industri Kereta Api, Nuri and Tawon produced by PT Super Gasindo Jaya, Marlip electric car produced by the Indonesia Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and off road car, Komodo, which was released by PT Fin Komodo Teknologi.

The Industry Ministry’s land transportation industry director, Supriyanto, said that Indonesia could produce its own cars within the next five years. To support the design development, the government will provide incentives, including research and human development support. “So far, Indonesia only assembled cars, while the designs are made overseas,” he said. FERY FIRMANSYAH | EKA UTAMI APRILIA

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