Indonesia's Astra bets on Gojek as car sales dive
Jakarta
ASTRA International, Indonesia's largest automobile distributor, on Thursday launched a joint venture with Gojek to provide cars to the ride-hailing firm.
The move, which comes on the heels of an overall US$250 million investment in Gojek, is aimed at boosting Astra's already-strong market dominance, despite a dismal full-year outlook for countrywide car sales.
"The outlook for the country's overall car sales is between 1.05 million and 1.1 million units for 2019," Astra president and director Prijono Sugiarto told reporters, a dive from 1.5 million units sold in 2018.
"This is because the global economy is not so good and the export of CPO (crude palm oil) is low, so it risks impacting our purchasing power," he added.
Astra is 50.1 per cent owned by conglomerate Jardine Cycle & Carriage.
The newly launched "GoFleet", which comprises "thousands of cars" should help Gojek fight back Singapore-based rival Grab, following a new regulation prohibiting individuals from offering car-hailing services.
Launched in 2011, Gojek has evolved from ride-sharing to allowing its customers to make online payments and order everything from food to groceries and massage services.
The Indonesian company is currently in the middle of a targeted US$3 billion fundraising round, of which Astra contributed US$100 million in March, as the ride-hailing firm fights bigger rival Grab for dominance of the region. REUTERS
BT is now on Telegram!
For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to t.me/BizTimes
Transport & Logistics
Toyota and Nissan pair up with Tencent and Baidu for China AI arms race
China's largest auto show displays all-electric future, local brands dominate
Toyota hits record annual output, sales on robust demand
Nissan, Mazda roll out new models for China as they aim for comeback
VinFast chief plans to invest US$1 billion more from his fortune in EV maker
XPeng CEO says its software, AI upgrades to enter ‘super fast cycle’