Indonesia Could Be Site Of Next Ford EV Plant

As Ford Authority reported back in 2016, Ford decided to exit Japan and Indonesia amid sales and profit struggles in those countries. In Indonesia, specifically, Ford held less than one percent of the automotive market and cited “a lack of local production, coupled with a shortage of vehicles to sell in key market segments” as its chief obstacles there. That decision ultimately cost the automaker some money in more ways than one, but now, Indonesia may reportedly be chosen as the site of the next new Ford EV plant, too.

According to The Jakarta Post, a new Ford EV plant is destined for Indonesia next year, news that was confirmed by a government official. “Ford has promised to realize its factory and investment in Indonesia by next year,” said Indonesia’s Deputy Industry Minister Faisol Riza. “It looks like some of the global [automobile] manufacturers that were once here and then disappeared will also be coming back.” Ford and Volkswagen have reportedly been in talks with the Indonesian government for some time now, along with various other automakers, as a handful of them are eyeing that market as the site of future plants.

As Ford Authority previously reported, FoMoCo forged a deal with PT Vale Indonesia Tbk and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co. last year that aims to increase nickel production in Indonesia and involves each investing in the Pomalaa Block High-Pressure Acid Leaching (HPAL) Project, which will process ore to produce mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) in Kolaka, Southwest Sulawesi, Indonesia. MHP is a lower-cost nickel product used in EV batteries with nickel-rich cathodes. When fully operational, the plant is expected to be able to produce up to 120 kilotons of contained nickel per year in the form of MHP.

If this Indonesian Ford EV plant does in fact come to fruition, it would mark yet another market that the automaker has re-entered after previously exiting it. In fact, The Blue Oval announced that it would be ending its manufacturing operations in India back in 2021, but this past September, revealed that it would be restarting production at the Chennai Assembly plant.