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.