Luxury cars a coveted commodity<\/p>\n
Crisis, what crisis? A visitor to the country could be
\nforgiven for having doubts based on the array of luxury model
\ncars whizzing along Jakarta's streets. The Jakarta Post's Ida
\nIndawati Khouw gets on track with the trend for newer, more
\nexpensive vehicles.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): It was unbearably hot in Pecenongan, the busy,
\nrather chaotic area in Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Heating up the temperature was a long traffic jam, with noisy
\nbajaj (three-wheeled motorized cabs) chugging out exhaust fumes
\nalong with public minivans and cars.<\/p>\n
The holdup was for two men blocking traffic to allow two
\nluxury VW Beetles to be parked in a showroom.<\/p>\n
They had reason to be careful -- the showroom owner would
\nstand to lose millions of rupiah if one of his cars, carrying a
\nprice tag from several hundreds million rupiah up to Rp 1
\nbillion, suffered so much as a graze on its paintwork.<\/p>\n
A new look has taken over auto showrooms along Jl. Pecenongan
\nand other centers for the business in the city. Today they are
\ndisplaying Jaguars, Ferraris and SsangYongs, which are newcomers
\nto the country's roads.<\/p>\n
Offering vehicles which are only affordable for the rich, the
\nshowrooms are incongruously sandwiched between cigarette kiosks,
\ncheap food stalls, garbage carts and other reminders of the thin
\nwallets of many Indonesians.<\/p>\n
The paradoxical sight and the government's decision to open up
\nthe country's automotive market to completely built-up (CBU)
\nvehicles will no doubt come as a surprise to many people abroad
\nwho are concerned about the country's crisis.<\/p>\n
Minister of Industry and Trade Luhut Pandjaitan said the
\ndecision to lift the restriction on imported vehicles in June
\nbore some positive results, including higher tax revenues and a
\nboost in the activities of local car dealers.<\/p>\n
Some car dealers acknowledged that the market for CBU cars was
\npromising even though most Indonesians were still struggling to
\nmake ends meet.<\/p>\n
An employee of Duta Motor car showroom in Pecenongan, Edi,
\nsaid he was unable to meet the high market demand, which started
\nto soar earlier this year.<\/p>\n
\"At that time, even if we had 50 luxury cars, I think I could
\nhave sold all of them.\"<\/p>\n
For some, it is not an issue of having enough cash to buy a
\nluxury vehicle, but how many more they want to add to their
\ncollection.<\/p>\n
One such collector is Angky Camaro, vice director of Indomobil
\nGroup car distributor.<\/p>\n
At present, he has two Nissan cars for his daily activities,
\nbut he is also ordering an Audi TT, a VW Caravelle and a Volvo S
\n80.<\/p>\n
\"I use the cars in turn based on my mood.\"<\/p>\n
He said he was keeping up with trends.<\/p>\n
\"Using CBU cars is like wearing clothes from a boutique while
\nthe locally assembled ones are similar to wearing mass-produced
\nclothes.\"<\/p>\n
The owner of a printing company in Jelambar, West Jakarta, Lim
\nSim Nam, gave a different reason for choosing a luxury model.<\/p>\n
\"I heard that the imported cars are safer and more
\ncomfortable, that's why I intend to buy one even though I have a
\nToyota Kijang minivan and Toyota Crown sedan at home,\" Lim said
\nas he looked over CBU cars at the Gaikindo Auto Expo 2000 on
\nWednesday.<\/p>\n
\"I will buy one for a price between Rp 300 million and Rp 400
\nmillion.\"<\/p>\n
Expo<\/p>\n
Those lacking the cash but wishing to experience the luxury
\ncan visit the Gaikindo expo at the Jakarta Convention Center,
\nCentral Jakarta, until Sept. 12.<\/p>\n
Be prepared to jostle in a crowd as the show was flooded with
\nvisitors only two hours after its grand opening last Wednesday.
\nIt is the largest automotive expo in the country's history and
\ninternational automakers are pulling out all the stops to show
\ntheir newest, most stylish models.<\/p>\n
Just look at Germany's BMW. The Rp 2 billion (US$250,000)
\nJames Bond-style Z8 sport car was imported especially for the
\nevent. \"We are just showing it to see whether it has good
\nprospects,\" said Nani from the automaker's marketing division.<\/p>\n
Or Indomobil group with its Audi TT car (retails at more than
\n$60,000), DaimlerChrysler's Rp 1.32 billion Mercedes-Benz S 320 L
\nAutomatic and the Rp 500 million Peugeot P 406 Coupe.<\/p>\n
The cars may carry big price tags, but their makers are
\noptimistic of making big killings.<\/p>\n
German carmaker Audi's country manager for Indonesia, Nicholas
\nWilson, predicted total sales would grow to about 5,000 units
\nnext year from 4,000 this year. The company also has several
\nservice stations in Jakarta, Surabaya (East Java), Yogyakarta and
\nBandung (West Java) to anticipate the growth.<\/p>\n
DaimlerChrysler has set its sales target at 2,000 to 2,500
\ncars this year, 40 percent of which are CBU. \"We have imported
\n900 CBU cars so far,\" said the company's corporate communications
\nmanager, Wim Ekel.<\/p>\n
Marketing manager of General Motors Indonesia Paulus B.
\nSuranto said the company predicted 500 of its CBU Opel series
\nwould be sold this year.<\/p>\n
Protests<\/p>\n
The arrival of the cars has not been welcomed by all. Dozens
\nof young people, calling themselves the Anti-luxury Car Movement,
\nstaged a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Industry and
\nTrade last month to demand the government ban the imports.<\/p>\n
Angky disagreed with their protest, but admitted the cars
\nshowed the vast socioeconomic gap.<\/p>\n
\"It is true, what can you say? Moreover, there can't be
\nuniformity here. Do you think that it is a communist country
\nwhere everything should be uniform?\"<\/p>\n
Rapid sales were made during the expo. For instance, in the
\nfirst two hours after the grand opening, Toyota recorded 10
\ntransactions.<\/p>\n
A staff member at the Isuzu stand carefully counted a wad of
\nRp 100,000 bills from customer Kusnanto, 55, as the advance
\npayment on an Isuzu Panther High Grade type.<\/p>\n
\"I have six cars but it's not enough. I have seven children,\"
\nsaid Kusnanto.<\/p>\n
\"Higher class\" automakers also enjoyed good business. Peugeot
\nhad four transactions and Audi one.<\/p>\n
Riza M. Rinaldhy, sales and marketing manager of PT Grandauto
\nDinamika, the sole distributor of the British-made Jaguar, said
\ndozens of people requested a test drive of the model, which costs
\nmore than Rp 1 billion each, although none were confirmed as
\nbuyers.<\/p>\n
\"They are our prospective customers, that's why we will have
\nthe test drives after the expo,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Still, how do the owners keep their coveted cars out of harm's
\nway with the busy traffic and bad infrastructure in the capital?<\/p>\n
Angky said he never faced difficulties with other vehicles,
\nincluding public transportation.<\/p>\n
\"Thus far, other drivers are always tolerant toward luxury
\ncars. Most of the time they make way for me,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Maryono William, who owns a CBU Toyota Land Cruiser V8 type
\nand is ordering a Mercedes-Benz SLK series, said he used the
\nvehicle only to travel from his home in Kebayoran Baru, South
\nJakarta, to his car showroom in Pecenongan.<\/p>\n
\"Most CBU cars have better suspension systems so it won't be a
\nproblem if passing along damaged roads,\" he said.<\/p>\n
An expert on traffic management from the University of
\nIndonesia, Alan Marino, countered that the country's roads were
\nstill not the place for the vehicles.<\/p>\n
\"For example, we know that traffic jams are still everywhere
\nhere so that cars with high capability, like high speed power,
\nwon't be functioning (optimally) here,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"All I'd like to say is that a person who owns a luxury car
\nhere is like a woman wearing expensive clothes and accessories in
\na public minivan -- it's totally unsuitable.\"<\/p>",
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