Auto expo ends on high despite early jitters
Auto expo ends on high despite early jitters
JAKARTA (JP): The nine-day Gaikindo 11th Auto Expo 2001 ended
on Sunday with total sales expected to surpass Rp 400 billion
(US$40 million), matching last year's level.
Chairman of the expo's organizing committee Danny Budiharto
said that, up until Friday, transactions had reached Rp 303
billion.
"Visitors usually buy cars approaching the end of the expo,
after they have finished looking around," Danny told The Jakarta
Post on the sidelines of a ceremony held to officially close the
country's most prestigious auto expo.
He said that 2,308 cars had been sold at the expo as of
Friday.
He added that South Korea's Hyundai car was "the star" of the
expo, booking the highest sales.
Danny said that Hyundai received 230 purchase orders, beating
big Japanese brands such as Toyota and Honda, which only received
90 and 80 orders respectively.
"It's no wonder Hyundai books more orders than others. The
cars are less expensive and also look good," he said.
Indonesian Association of Automotive Industries (Gaikindo)
chairman Bambang Trisulo was relieved that the auto expo could be
held without being disrupted by last week's presidential
election, which some experts had initially predicted could
trigger conflict.
"Thank God that we have successfully completed the event after
such an uneasy period," Bambang said.
"The success certainly helped raise confidence in the
economy," he added.
The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the country's top
legislative body, elected Megawati Soekarnoputri as the country's
new President early last week, several minutes after dismissing
Abdurrahman Wahid. The latter had earlier made a futile attempt
to suspend the Assembly and the House of Representatives. The
presidential election ends a standoff between Abdurrahman and
lawmakers which has endured for months.
Danny said that the political event had affected the number of
visitors at the expo, particularly during the first four days, as
tension in the capital rose in the leadup to the MPR Special
Session.
He said that visitors had only reached 120,000 people by
Friday, far lower than last year's 250,000 visitors.
He said that the total number of visitors was expected to
reach 150,000 by the time the expo had concluded, which is only
half the organizer's initial target of 300,000.
The venue for the auto expo, the Jakarta Convention Center, is
only a few hundred meters away from the MPR building where
lawmakers held their session, and is heavily guarded by the
military and police.
At the expo, Hyundai displayed several car models including
the 1,600 cc Matrix mini-multipurpose van (MVP), 1,500 cc Accent
sedan, 2,000 cc and 2,700 cc Trajet vans, 1,000 cc Atoz city car,
and the 2,400 cc and 2,700 cc Santa Fe sports cars.
From the 230 orders received by Hyundai, Matrix booked 98
orders, Accent 83, Trajet 21, Atoz 16 and Santa Fe the remaining
12. The price of a Matrix starts at Rp 157 million.
Meanwhile, the newly launched Corolla Altis, with 67 sales,
dominated Toyota's sales at the expo, followed by the popular
Kijang van with 15 sales.
Another Japanese maker, Honda, which launched its new Civic
early this year, did not receive many orders for the new car.
The Honda City sedan was the star performer at Honda's stand
during the expo, with 32 cars ordered.
European cars such as Renault, Jaguar, Volvo, VW and Audi
recorded low sales due to their high prices.
Renault led the European car sales with 38 purchases, Jaguar
with 32, Volvo 20, VW 11 and Audi 8.
Gaikindo estimated that car sales in the country would hit
around 280,000 units this year, lower than last year's sales of
about 300,000 cars.
As of June, national sales stood at 148,000 units, an increase
of 15 percent from the 128,000 cars sold in the same period last
year.(05)