How Do Indonesian Consumers Use AI to Buy Cars? 93.6% Use AI Monthly, and AI Has Become the Most Influential "Opinion Leader" in the Car Market｜IPSmoto 16-Market Series
How Do Indonesian Consumers Use AI to Buy Cars?
93.6% Use AI Monthly, and AI Has Become the Most Influential "Opinion Leader" in the Car Market
TL;DR: Three Lines
Indonesia is the Asian market where AI is most deeply involved in car buying.93.6% of internet users use AI monthly and 80% use it daily. High penetration does not mean deep usage — Indonesia has both.
AI has become the most influential "opinion leader" in Indonesia's car market, and zero-click is common.The country's first industry study shows 36.5% of AI citations come from mainstream media and 16.69% from brand websites.
Perplexity takes 21.18% of the market.GEO here has to fight on two fronts: ChatGPT and Perplexity.
193.6%: Penetration and Depth Both in Place
DataReportal's Digital 2026 Global Overview (October 2025) shows that across 54 surveyed markets, Indonesia's monthly AI usage rate (93.6%) ranks third worldwide, behind only Kenya and the UAE. e-Conomy SEA 2025, published jointly by Google, Temasek and Bain, reveals how deep that usage goes: 80% use AI every day, 68% talk with AI chatbots, and 50% use AI to speed up decisions.
ChatGPT's monthly usage rate here is 37.9%, 14th globally. Unlike Japan, where 42.4% of non-users say they simply have no need for it, or Thailand's "tried it, rarely use it" pattern, AI usage in Indonesia is high-frequency, everyday, and tool-like — and that is the user base which lets AI move into car-buying decisions.
2Perplexity at 21.18%: A Duopoly
StatCounter data shows Perplexity taking 21.18% of Indonesia's all-platform share (14.68% on mobile), far above most of its markets worldwide (4.4% in Japan and 5.81% in Thailand over the same period). Positioned as an "answer engine with citations," its high share means Indonesian consumers are more sensitive than their neighbours to where information comes from — and that a brand's GEO strategy here has to optimize for ChatGPT and Perplexity at the same time. Optimizing for ChatGPT alone misses roughly one in five AI users, and the two platforms cite sources differently.
Another signal comes from OpenAI: on 22 September 2025, the low-cost subscription tier ChatGPT Go chose Indonesia for its global launch — a choice that confirms the market's strategic weight.
3AI as the Most Influential "Opinion Leader": Indonesia's First Automotive AI Visibility Study
In November 2025, Maverick, GRID and Dataxet published AI Visibility of the Indonesian Automotive Industry 2025 — Indonesia's first AI visibility study for the auto sector. It analysed close to 300 car-related AI answers across six AI platforms and more than 3,000 cited sources, and reached three findings:
AI has become the most influential "opinion leader" in Indonesia's auto industry.The first stop for car research is shifting from search engines and reviewers to AI answers.
"Zero-click" is widespread.AI returns model recommendations and comparisons directly, and many users no longer click through to brand websites — how a brand is mentioned inside AI answers is replacing site traffic as the new measure of exposure.
Citations are highly concentrated:mainstream media 36.5%, brand websites 16.69%, with marketplace listings the main source for specifications and pricing.
4A Chinese Automaker in Indonesia: AI Digital Human Store Tours, +17% Showroom Appointments
In this market, Chinese automakers are ahead of the curve. Take Wuling Indonesia: the brand adopted AI digital human store-tour videos, using AI-generated presenter avatars to produce showroom visit content in batches. According to the brand's public materials, the programme covers more than 140 stores, lifting showroom appointment rates by 17% and cutting per-video cost by over 80%.
The value of this case is that it closes the full loop — "AI content production, online interest, showroom conversion." AI avatars solved the capacity bottleneck across many stores and in Bahasa Indonesia, the store-tour format answers Indonesian families' need to "see it with their own eyes," and the whole thing closes on a measurable metric: showroom appointment rate.
5Three Judgments for Automakers
First, monitoring has to be model by model.Perplexity's 21.18% share means watching ChatGPT alone misses roughly one in five AI users, and the two platforms differ significantly in citation logic and user profile.
Second, media sources are the first lever of GEO.36.5% of AI citations come from mainstream media — in Indonesia, model coverage in authoritative outlets is not just a PR outcome, it is the raw material of AI answers. Media spend and GEO should share one budget and one set of KPIs.
Third, redefine exposure KPIs for the zero-click era.When consumers build their shortlist inside an AI answer and never click through, "how often and how favourably AI mentions you" — the IPS, or Intelligent Promotion Score — approximates real brand exposure better than website UV. What is happening in Indonesia is a preview for automakers everywhere.
6Frequently Asked Questions
Why must GEO in Indonesia optimize for both ChatGPT and Perplexity?
StatCounter puts Perplexity at 21.18% of Indonesia's all-platform share (2025.4) and 14.68% on mobile (2025.11). The two platforms cite sources differently, so optimizing for only one misses about one in five AI users.
Can AI recommendations in Indonesia directly drive sales?
Not one-to-one. Local research confirms AI has become the most influential opinion leader and that zero-click behaviour is common, but the Wuling case still closes on "showroom appointment rate +17%". AI decides whether you make the shortlist; the transaction still happens in the showroom or through online channels.
What is the first step for GEO in Indonesia?
Start with a source audit: ask 20 real car-buying questions in both ChatGPT and Perplexity, and log brand appearance rate, recommendation rank and cited sources. Then, against the 36.5% media / 16.69% website citation structure, fill the gaps with authoritative media coverage and complete Bahasa Indonesia site content.
7Conclusion
With 93.6% monthly usage, Indonesia proves that AI adoption tracks user need rather than economic development level. When the country's first local study declares AI the most influential opinion leader in the car market, when Perplexity takes a globally rare one-fifth share here, when OpenAI launches ChatGPT Go in Jakarta — every signal points to the same conclusion: Indonesia is not the future market for AI-driven car consumption, it is the present market. For automakers, only one question remains: when an Indonesian family asks AI "which seven-seat MPV should we buy," are you in the answer?
Related reading
16-Market Overview: The Global Map of AI in Car Consumption — Two Dimensions, Four Quadrants(the series opener; see where Indonesia sits on the global map)
China: How Do Chinese Consumers Use AI to Buy Cars? — The Purchase-Decision Revolution Behind 515 Million Generative AI Users(the supply-side driver; read it alongside this piece)
Japan: 88% Research Online, 94% Still Visit the Showroom — A Cautious Revolution(the gradual, cautious case)
IPSmoto is a global automotive AI marketing data intelligence and growth platform, built to help car brands establish new competitive advantage as AI reshapes how consumers choose, buy and use cars.
The platform continuously tracks major automotive markets worldwide and 11 mainstream large language models. Grounded in AI data research across the full consumer journey, and using IPS (Intelligent Promotion Score) as its core measurement system, it builds benchmarks and insights for brand AI competitiveness.
Through brand and model IPS rankings, research into highly cited AI sources, industry insights and AI competitiveness consulting, IPSmoto helps car brands identify gaps and growth opportunities — and turns insight into action through brand knowledge assets, website optimization, authoritative source building and GEO strategy.
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Note on methodology: the 93.6% figure follows the GWI definition (used any AI tool in the past 30 days) and is not comparable with national official statistics; cross-methodology figures are background reference only and do not constitute a like-for-like comparison. This article makes no absolute claim of "highest" or "first" — every ranking states its comparison scope and methodology. Cover image generated by AI.