① According to Japanese media reports, the Japanese government will hold an economic minister meeting with ASEAN in September this year to cooperate to establish an electric vehicle production and sales alliance; ② It is reported that the Japanese government will join hands with ASEAN in various fields such as personnel training, decarbonization, joint procurement of minerals, and biofuels, and may use 140 billion yen for personnel training programs.
Financial Services Association, May 20 (Editor: Malan) In response to increasingly fierce competition in the electric vehicle market, Japan is reported to establish the first automobile production and sales alliance with ASEAN in Southeast Asia.
According to a report by Japan's Nikkei News, the two sides plan to hold a meeting of the ministers of economy as early as September this year and formulate a temporary joint strategy that will last until around 2035. The strategy is expected to cover various fields such as personnel training, decarbonization, mineral resource procurement, biofuels, etc.
Japan is said to use 140 billion yen (about 900 million US dollars) of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's budget to help the ASEAN market train new generation of auto workers.
Furthermore, Japan will promote its carbon dioxide emission measurement technology to promote the transformation of the automobile industry to renewable energy. Japan and ASEAN will also consider joint procurement of rare materials for the production of electric vehicle batteries and cooperate in recycling batteries.
The two sides are currently considering developing biofuels made from waste cooking oil to promote the high environmental standards of automobiles within the Japan-ASEAN Union.
sense of urgency
ASEAN is an important part of the global industry, and it is also home to the factories of many Japanese automobile manufacturers. Every year, Japanese automakers assemble more than 3 million cars in ASEAN, accounting for about 80% of ASEAN's total production, and most of these cars are exported to the Middle East and other regions.
Until now, Japanese automakers' strategies in ASEAN have been carried out independently. And as competition in the electric vehicle market heats up, the Japanese government seems determined to intervene in the market to achieve consolidation.
According to an automobile manufacturer executive, due to factors such as rising interest rates, the overall demand for automobiles in Southeast Asia is showing a downward trend, but local car subsidies are very generous. Unfortunately, many car manufacturers have not been able to seize these smooth winds.
The changing market has heightened the sense of urgency among many Japanese car manufacturers. Last week, Japan's Honda promised to double its investment in electrification and software to around $65 billion by 2030. Toyota, on the other hand, announced that it will raise its sales target for hybrid vehicles to 1 million units for the fiscal year and increase production capacity to 2 million units per year.