Gojek clarifies media reports of Malaysia debut

Gojek's spokesperson has clarified that it has no current plans to enter Malaysia. This comes after news outlets including The Edge Markets reported that a Honda City featuring the Gojek logo was spotted in Kuala Lumpur. Quoting Vocket, The Edge Markets said that the car with the Gojek logo was being filmed by a crew while being accompanied by a police outrider.

"The vehicle spotted was being filmed as part of an upcoming campaign that consumers in our existing markets can look forward to later this year," the spokesperson added.  Gojek is currently present in Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines.

It recently made waves in Singapore after it inked a partnership with K-pop boyband BTS which runs across Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam involving GoFood, GoRide, GoCar, GoClub, and GoPay. The campaign in Singapore involves a BTS-themed OOH placements, accompanied by digital and social efforts across various channels. In Indonesia, the brand will roll out at TVC featuring members speaking in fluent Indonesia and ordering local cuisine via GoFood.

Gojek's Kevin Aluwi also stepped down as the company's CEO recently to join GoTo's board of commissioners. He now supports GoTo's senior leaders in delivering the company's vision and mission and work to empower progress for everyone in the GoTo ecosystem and the communities where it operates. Last July, its Thailand operations were acquired by airasia, which also entered the ride-hailing scene in Malaysia a month later.

Meanwhile, rival Grab is dominating the ride-hailing scene in Malaysia, According to science solutions and advisory firm Blackbox, Grab is the most often used ride hailing app in Malaysia (94%), followed by MyCar (3%), and Maxim (2%). Grab is also the most often used app in Southeast Asia (75%), followed by Gojek (13%), Comfort (2%), and Becar/bebike (2%).

Earlier last year, there was chatter about Gojek potentially merging with Grab, with news outlets reporting that Gojek had "made substantial progress" to merge with Grab. Months later, the company officially announced that it was merging with Tokopedia to form GoTo Group in Indonesia's largest deal.

Photo courtesy: Shutterstock

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