Tesla unlikely to launch in Indonesia, says Panjaitan

Following Tesla’s launch in Malaysia, Indonesia has been in the process of attracting investments from manufacturers of electronic vehicles such as Tesla and Build Your Dreams (BYD) through a set of new incentives.

However, after coordinating minister Luhut Panjaitan met with Elon Musk last month, he announced that Tesla will not be investing in Indonesia anytime soon, as reported by Bloomberg. Panjaitan is Indonesia’s minister of maritime affairs and natural resources.

Panjaitan said Musk was concerned about the global economic outlook and oversupply in the electric vehicle industry when he spoke at the Bloomberg CEO Forum in Jakarta.

He also added that his meeting with Musk in August lasted for more than two hours and that Indonesia will do fine if Tesla cannot invest in the country at the moment.

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The preliminary deal with Tesla was to set up a factory in Indonesia to provide an end-to-end electric vehicle supply chain onshore. Potential investors were expected to have access to the nation’s reserves of key battery metals as well as its more than 270 million consumers.

While Musk will not be bringing Tesla to Indonesia at the moment, he is set to visit Indonesia in October for talks between the government and his satellite internet service Starlink, Panjaitan said. When speaking about Starlink, Panjaitan explained that the service could help connect Indonesia’s rural areas, especially in the east, for better access to education and health services.

Indonesia was also expected to propose incentives that will use similar incentives offered by its regional rivals such as Thailand and Vietnam, as yardsticks during the finalisation process. The country has reportedly been attempting to attract Tesla for years to host an Asian production hub for the manufacturer by enticing them with its nickel reserves.

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