Toyota to invest $2bn in Indonesia

A Toyota's electric vehicle concept Rhombus is displayed during the media day for Shanghai auto show in Shanghai on April 17. (Reuters photo)

JAKARTA: Toyota Motor Corp plans to invest $2 billion to develop electric vehicles (EV) in Indonesia over the next four years, starting with hybrid vehicles, Indonesia's coordinating ministry for maritime affairs said.

"From 2019 to 2023, we will progressively increase our investment to 28.3 trillion rupiah ($2.00 billion)," Toyota president Akio Toyoda was quoted as saying in a statement released by the ministry on Thursday.

The Japanese carmaker said this month that it aimed for half its global sales to be from electric vehicles by 2025.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, has plentiful reserves of nickel laterite ore, a vital ingredient in the lithium-ion batteries used to power EVs, and has been making a push to attract foreign carmakers.

"Because the Indonesian government already has an electric vehicle development map, Toyota considers Indonesia as a prime EV investment destination," Mr Toyoda said in the statement.