ASEAN auto sales up

ASEAN auto sales up

SINGAPORE (AFP): Combined new vehicle sales in the top four markets of Southeast Asia rose 22 percent from a year ago to 182,349 units in the first four months of 1999, according to a top US auto component supplier.

Visteon Automotive Systems hailed the sales growth in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand as proof that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was rebounding from recession.

A Visteon press statement received here Monday said Malaysia posted the biggest growth of 124.5 percent, with 85,831 units sold from January to April, almost half of the sales in the four markets covered by the survey.

Its domestic manufacturers Proton and Perodua together accounted for 37 percent of sales in the four markets.

Visteon said the biggest surprise was Indonesia, where sales hit 8,609 units in April, up 88 percent from the same month a year ago, despite the country's severe economic crisis. January to April sales reached 23,748, up 25.6 percent year-on-year.