Ford's decision to cease operations in Indonesia comes nearly one year after American multinational corporation General Motors Company (GM) decided to stop manufacturing its GM-branded cars in Indonesia. By shutting down its assembly plant last year, about 500 jobs were lost.

Indonesia is a difficult market for American and European car manufacturers. Japanese car producers remain the dominant players in Indonesia’s car manufacturing industry, particularly the Toyota brand. More than half of total domestic car sales are Toyota-branded cars.

Read Analysis: Overview of Indonesia's Automotive Industry

With low per capita car ownership and an expected acceleration in economic growth, Indonesia remains an attractive sales market for automakers. However, to quote the words of GM Executive Vice President Stefan Jacoby expressed in February 2015 "GM got it wrong in going head-to-head with the Japanese in a market that constitutes their 'backyard'."

Indonesian Car Sales (CBU):

 Month    Sold Cars 2012    Sold Cars 2013    Sold Cars 2014    Sold Cars 2015
 January           76,427           96,718          103,609           94,194
 February           86,486          103,278          111,824           88,740
 March           87,917           95,996          113,067           99,410
 April           87,144          102,257          106,124           81,600
 May           95,541           99,697           96,872           79,375
 June          101,746          104,268          110,614           82,172
 July          102,511          112,178           91,334           55,615
 August           76,445           77,964           96,652           90,537
 September          102,100          115,974          102,572           93,038
 October          106,754          112,039          105,222           88,408
 November          103,703          111,841           91,327           86,938
 December           89,456           97,706           78,802           73,264
 Total         1,116,230
        1,229,916
        1,208,019         1,013,291

 

     2008    2009    2010    2011     2012     2013     2014     2015
Car Sales
(car units)
 607,805  486,061  764,710  894,164 1,116,230
1,229,916 1,208,019 1,013,291
Car Exports
(car units)
 100,982   56,669   85,769  107,932  173,368  170,907  202,273  200,000¹

¹ forecast
Source: Gaikindo

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