Here’s a surprise from the 2025 Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show (GIIAS) – a new national car for Indonesia. Now, I’m not sure if the locals care so much about a ‘national car’ than we do in Malaysia, and the term has of late been used quite liberally (by Polytron and Aletra), but here’s another one, and it’s called i2C.
i2C stands for Indigenous Indonesia Car and the company behind it is PT Teknologi Militer Indonesia (TMI). As its name suggests, TMI deals with military equipment.
According to the company’s ‘about us’ description on its website, TMI is a “strategic platform for acquisition of innovative technologies to enhance the national defense and security sectors, also the system integrator for combat/battle management system embodying advance military technology development” and the products section lists air, land and sea defense systems.
So, why would a defense contractor dabble in passenger cars? I’m guessing that it’s somewhat like a free-for-all in Indonesia if you have a partner to supply a donor car and the right connections. Speaking of partners, local reports say that i2C’s SUV will be based on a platform of a foreign partner which identity is yet to be disclosed. Another partner is Italdesign.
The famous Italian design studio’s work is here at GIIAS 2025, tucked in a rather hidden nook of ICE BSD. When we first saw the 1:1 clay model, all four of us here exclaimed ‘Kia EV9’ for the mockup’s angular lines, Kia-style rear end and scale, which contains three rows of seats.
Next to Italdesign’s logo on the backdrop is Fincantieri, which describes itself as one of the largest shipbuilding companies in the world, with over 230 years of history and more than 7,000 ships built.
“We are a reference player for major cruise operators, the exclusive supplier for the Italian Navy, a partner of the US Navy and numerous foreign navies, and a key player in some of the most important European defence partnership programs,” the company says.
As mentioned, the donor car remains a mystery, but it’s most likely to be a Chinese company, as i2C quotes a CLTC range of 617 km from an 83.4 kWh NMC battery. There’s a single rear-mounted motor pushing out 204 PS and 310 Nm of torque (identical figures to the BYD Atto 3), which pushes the big SUV from 0-100 km/h in an estimated 9.1 seconds. Top speed is 200 km/h. As for charging, i2C quotes max rates of 150 kW DC and 11 kW AC.
Anyway, two other national cars from Indonesia were recently announced – Aletra L8 and Polytron G3. The Aletra is a rebadged Livan Maple 80V L, which is essentially a Geely Jiaji EV, while the Polytron is a Skyworth EV6 SUV. Just like how Skyworth is known as a ‘TV maker’, Polytron sells electronics and home appliances ranging from rice cookers to fridges. TVs too, of course.
What do you think of the i2C’s design?
GALLERY: i2C concept at GIIAS 2025
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Indo and vietnam can have their own national car program. i think they will eventually faced similar challenge as proton once their capital declines and cost of manufacturing is not competitive to enter foreign market. local market alone very difficult to survive. even japanese car makers already struggle. so it is very important for proton’s supply chain companies compete for a pie of this long and wide supply chain for these brands. perhaps eventually we will see a consolidation where it may opens up opportunity for proton and these associates