I spent a weekend in Jakarta recently, my first trip back there since ’97, and from what I saw, its a huge economy with massive potential but an incredibly long way to go infrastructure wise. With large investments likely over the next 5-10 years I can see the car market there growing much faster than Thailand and if shipping and logistics improves Thailand as a base for shipping to other countries may begin deteriorate. Which companies here may get hurt? STANLY comes to mind, but we haven’t looked at them for years.

The company, which usually imports the Vios compact sedan from Thailand, has spent 2.5 trillion rupiah (Bt6.7 billion) in initial capital on its expansion in Indonesia.

TMMIN president-director Masahiro Nonami said the persistently strong demand for cars in Indonesia, driven by its growing middle-class segment, had attracted his company to make the country a Vios production base.

Source: The Nation