PT BMW Indonesia, a local subsidiary of Munich-based luxury car manufacturer BMW AG, bounced back from a steep decline in sales in 2006 to post a 66.7 percent rise last year on an improving economy, an executive says.
BMW sold 1,000 units last year, driven mostly by strong demands in BMW 3 Series, 5 Series and the new X5 automobiles, president director Joerg Kelling told a media conference Thursday.
"Overall, we are very pleased with our achievement last year," Kelling said.
BMW's 3 Series remained the most popular, with 565 units sold last year, up almost 100 percent from 285 units in 2006, with BMW 5 Series following suit at 212 units, rising by 75 percent from 121 units in 2006.
PT BMW's corporate communication director Helena Abidin said that in 2006, BMW sales were down 56 percent to 600 units from 1,260 units sold in 2005, as interest rates rose to help cope with the prolonged impacts of the double fuel hikes in 2005, which also hurt automotive sales nationwide.
In 2007, Indonesia's car sales reached 434,449 units, up by 36.2 percent from the 318,904 units sold in 2006.
To even strengthen its presence in Indonesia, the company will introduce its Complete Knocked Down (CKD) type 5 Series next month and Complete Built-Up (CBU) type BMW X6 in the second half of this year.
For the 5 Series units, BMW has invested US$7.3 million to help raise the capacity of its assembling factory in North Jakarta. In cooperation with PT Tjahya Sakti Motor under PT Astra International, the factory assembles BMW 3 Series and 5 Series sold to the domestic market.
Kelling said the price of the new 5 Series CKD will be at around the same rate as the 5 Series CBU in Indonesia. The 5 Series CBU was launched last September at Rp 789 million on the road.
Kelling said besides investing $7.3 million for the 5 Series, BMW would also invest up to Rp 8 billion to improve its after-sales services by implementing the i-tools system in its authorized workshops.
The system would allow BMW authorized workshops to receive instant updates on software programs, technical information and guidance from BMW headquarters. (ndr)
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