ASEAN's car sales to rise 23%

ASEAN's car sales to rise 23%

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Car sales in four main ASEAN economies are expected to grow by as much as 23 percent this year with the sharpest gains being posted in the Philippines, a Japanese industry group said Thursday.

But the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) said the outlook was still unclear for the Indonesian market, where a recovery from last year's plunge in sales of more than 80 percent was by no means certain.

"Auto makers active in ASEAN countries are highly confident in the renewed growth of the region," JAMA said in a statement, adding that Japanese companies planned to "deepen" their 30-year partnership with the region.

ASEAN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Shinichiro Oka, manager of JAMA's international division, said combined sales in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand were forecast at between 490,000 and 550,000 units this year.

That would be a rise of 10-23 percent over the 446,472 units sold last year when sales in the four countries plummeted 66 percent.