Astra car sales climb 85%

JAKARTA (JP): The country's largest automobile group, Astra International, reported an 85 percent increase in its domestic and export sales of cars to reach 54,980 units in the first 10 months of the year compared to the same period last year.

Astra's director Rudyanto Hardjanto said in a statement on Monday that Astra's domestic car sales of Toyota, Isuzu, BMW, Daihatsu, Peugeot and Nissan makes were 31,392, up 8 percent from the same period last year.

"Our car exports, notably Kijang van, reached 25,126 units, compared to only 703 units in the first 10 months of 1998," he added.

Rudyanto said publicly listed Astra held 48 percent of the domestic automobile market in the first 10 months which totaled 64,764, up 20 percent from the corresponding period last year.

He cited the increased sales as evidence of growing consumer confidence which would require factories to rebuild inventories, thereby raising capacity utilization.

However, Astra's motorcycle sales of Honda reached 212,179, down from 237,788 in the same period last year. Astra held 57 percent of total domestic motorcycle sales in the period.