Major PR Challenge: Restoring Buyer Confidence in National Cars

KatadataOTO – Indonesia once had a locally produced four-wheeled vehicle brand, Esemka. However, its presence in the country was short-lived.

After appearing at the IIMS 2023 automotive exhibition, its presence became even less heard of.

Even though consumers there could place an order simply by preparing a down payment of around Rp 37.5 million.

Most recently in April 2025, a prospective customer of the car Esemka Bima felt aggrieved because the car they ordered never arrived.

Photo : Special

The plaintiff's lawyer highlighted that Esemka was previously often promoted as a local car brand or a national car.

Then now at GIIAS 2025, another prototype of a national electric car product has appeared, produced by PT Teknologi Militer Indonesia (TMI), the i2C.

An automotive observer assesses that the presence of the i2C is a good first step so that Indonesia can have a national car in the future.

“The public is still hoping for a national (car) brand, our pride,” said Yannes Martinus Pasaribu, an academic from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and an automotive observer, when met in Tangerang, Thursday (31/07).

According to Yannes, regaining public trust is difficult. This is because thousands of Esemka units had been ordered, indicating consumer interest in local products.

However, he believes that the presence of other brands like Polytron and i2C, which are set to become domestically made cars, could receive a positive reception.

Most importantly, he hopes the presence of local brands will be accompanied by other support, such as the distribution of dealer networks and unit availability.

“Ideally, we should have a (national car). We cannot be a net importer country,” Yannes asserted.

Yannes also highlighted neighboring countries like Malaysia, which has a national car brand, Proton.

For your information, the electric car product from Polytron is also present at the GIIAS 2025 event. Near the Polytron booth, visitors can also see the i2C concept firsthand.

Photo : KatadataOTO

The i2C is still a 1:1 scale Clay Model, touted as a depiction of the direction for locally made electric vehicles.

TMI is collaborating with Italdesign from Italy to work on the exterior design of the i2C electric car.

The i2C electric car will target a fairly popular segment in Indonesia, namely the seven-seater Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV).