(Yicai) Sept. 18 -- Geely Automobile Holdings has reportedly denied media reports claiming the Chinese auto giant plans to build an electric vehicles plant in Indonesia.

Reports that Geely intends to build an EV plant in Indonesia are inaccurate, the Hangzhou-based company said, Shanghai Securities News reported yesterday. Geely has no specific plan to build a plant in Indonesia, although it is evaluating the potential of the Asian country’s new energy vehicle market and exploring opportunities to compete there, the carmaker added.

Indonesian news outlets had earlier reported that Geely was planning to build an EV factory in the country after Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s coordinating minister for maritime and investment affairs, reportedly said at a seminar that he had invited Geely to help Indonesia produce a local EV model by 2025 or 2026, and that the Chinese firm had expressed interest in the plan as the Indonesian government would have supplied nickel ore, a key raw material for power batteries.

Indonesia is a major energy and metal producer. It has the world’s first and third-largest reserves of nickel and cobalt, which are essential for power batteries.

Chinese carmakers and joint ventures SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile, Dongfeng Sokon Motor, Great Wall Motor, SAIC Maxus, Chery Automobile, and Hozon Auto brought their auto models to the Indonesia International Motor Show last month. SAIC-GM-Wuling started producing EVs in Indonesia last year, with the sales of its Wuling Air EV accounting for about 80 percent of Indonesia’s total EV sales in 2022.

Geely will continue to work with Malaysia’s DRB-Hicom to make Proton Cars, of which the two companies are investors, the launching pad for Geely’s development in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region to help Malaysia become a vital development engine for NEVs among ASEAN members.

Geely’s shares [HKG: 0175] were trading up 2 percent at HKD9.83 (USD1.26) as of 11.45 a.m. in Hong Kong today.

Editor: Futura Costaglione