How the Air EV Infiltrated the Upper Class

With the popularity of electric cars on the rise, there is one car that seemed to have dominated the EV market in Indonesia, accounting for 68.7% of all electric car sales in Indonesia in 2022, in the form of a tiny thing that could barely be counted as a car - the Wuling Air ev. By the end of 2022, there had been over 8000 units sold, all within the four months since its launch at Gaikindo, Indonesia’s largest auto show. Even if the car launched in the place where it can receive the most publicity possible for a car in Indonesia, how could it possibly have achieved this level of success?

One of the most intriguing things about the Air ev isn’t the car itself, but the people who buy them. Wuling brought the Air ev into production to take advantage of the low cost electric car market in Indonesia. Virtually every other electric car is only available to high-income households, which means in other words, they want to cater to the middle-class. Yet with their target customers in mind, how did the Air ev infiltrate every high-income neighbourhood and find its way into the garage of many wealthier families whilst remaining scarce in middle-class households?

Not the first time

This isn’t the first instance of a car intended to be sold to lower-income families ending up in the garages of the wealthy, with the best example being the Suzuki Jimny. The Jimny was initially launched with the intention of being the cheap off-road car for the lower end of the middle class - a car made with cheap materials, outdated technology, etc. However, its affordability and appeal to car enthusiasts worldwide brought the success of the Jimny. This success resulted in the rapid sell-out within a matter of literal minutes in some countries. Nonetheless, all the hype around the car had backfired for Suzuki’s intended customers - as the buyers were mainly people with disposable income to buy a car just for the fun of it. In Indonesia, the car should’ve cost just over 300 million, yet they were all instantly bought out by dealerships or other people with disposable income for one of two reasons: making a profit, or simply because of the hype around it. Within the next few years the market price stayed at the 500 million range - even used.

To combat that issue, Suzuki eventually released a cheaper model made with even cheaper materials and less technology. Yet what did it do to the price? Basically nothing. Now those base model Jimnys still sell for at least 450 million.


Why’s it Popular with the Wealthy and not with the Less Fortunate?

The major difference is that instead of being a global thing, the Wuling Air ev has zero presence whatsoever outside of Indonesia. Moreover, it doesn’t have the hype nor the appeal to enthusiasts that the Jimny has. So how did it gain such a prominent position in Indonesia’s wealthier neighbourhoods?

Several factors contributed to its rise in popularity but unlike the Jimny, in the Air ev’s case, convenience plays a crucial role . This may be less obvious for those of you who don’t drive but for those who do, just think about it. Picture yourself doing small errands like driving to the local Snapy to have something printed, or making a run to Pasar Puri - the extremely small package just makes driving and parking it a lot more effortless and easy. Then when you’re done with whatever you need to do, you simply head home and plug it in. In other words, it is a hassle-free car to just have laying around at home as maintenance will be less frequent and eliminates the need for the gas station.

However, to answer the question of why it is primarily popular with the wealthier population, the answer lies in the question itself. Usually, they’re almost entirely owned by people with several other cars sitting at home. The Air ev, to many is nothing but a simple errand runner to drive around within their local area. Hence why if you pay attention, you’ll find them in droves all over neighbourhoods and more suburban areas like around Puri compared to more commercial and distant locations including large housing areas such as SCBD. When people actually want to go somewhere further away with the family and not just run an errand or grab a quick lunch nearby, they’ll opt for a more ‘conventional’ family car to go with being Fortuners, Innovas, C-class’s, etc. Moreover, many households that own the Air ev likely employ drivers to actually bring them around in a more comfortable family car to commute to most places, which brings us back to the original point. It reinforces the idea of just an easy, carefree errand runner.

This likely attributes to the same reason as to why it isn’t popular with people with less fortunate - they can’t afford several cars for different purposes. If they look for a car, they seek something that they can comfortably accommodate their family with, say grocery runs, travel long distances, holding its value well, etc. and with a price of 250 to 300 million, there’s simply a lot more vehicles on the market that will suit their needs much more. Hence why the likes of Brios, Avanzas (which is in the same price range as the Air ev) and many others that fulfil their needs more effectively are still much more prominent.