Toyota admits that it is unable to answer the wishes of various ASEAN countries to invest in electric cars. Toyota admitted that it would not be able to build electric car assembly centers in Southeast Asian countries even though many requests were sent to them.
Hao Quoc Tien, CEO of Toyota Motor Asia Pacific (TMAP) said that currently many countries in ASEAN have promised to provide lots of incentives if Toyota wants to assemble electric cars in their countries. It’s just that it’s difficult to realize.
Hao Quoc Tien said that to achieve long-term business, the price of electric cars must be affordable. For this reason, Toyota needs large volumes.
“Imagine if we had to make electric cars in that country, this country and other countries. The component prices would be more expensive,” he said.
According to him, Toyota actually thought of doing the same thing as developing the conventional car business in the Southeast Asia region. They will utilize the Toyota Centers of Excellence facilities to make electric cars that suit the needs of countries in Southeast Asia.
After that, they will take advantage of specialization in various countries in ASEAN in procuring electric car components.
“We will continue to localize components. Maybe Indonesia will be the place to produce batteries, maybe Thailand will also make motorbikes. Meanwhile other countries can assemble all the components so that we can get affordable electric cars,” explained Hao Quoc Tien.
In other words, Toyota does not want to privilege one particular country in ASEAN. They shared the opportunity for every country to experience firsthand the sweetness of the electric car business.
Toyota itself will benefit from being able to provide affordable electric cars. The electric car will later be marketed in the ASEAN region so that it will form the market volume that Toyota desires.
