Car sales figures up 7.2 percent

Car sales figures up 7.2 percent

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The latest domestic figures for new vehicle sales showed an increase of 7.2 percent on month to 30,319 units in June, the Indonesian Association of Automotive Manufacturers (Gaikindo) said Monday.

New vehicle sales also rose 12.8 percent year-on-year, the association said in a statement.

Commercial vehicles accounted for 26,331 of the total number, up from 24,625 in May, the association added. Passenger car sales - a barometer of consumer confidence - edged higher to 3,988 units, compared with 3,652 in the previous month.

In the first half of the year, the country's new vehicle sales totaled 170,811, the association said.

The country's largest vehicle maker PT Astra International, which has a joint venture with Toyota Motor Corp. to assemble and distribute the Japanese company's vehicles in Indonesia, saw a 7.1 percent on-month increase in domestic sales to 12,818 units in June.

Earlier, some analysts said that the weak market demand, as people's purchasing power has been reduced by the slow pace of economic recovery, was hurting vehicle sales in the country.

They predict that domestic vehicle sales this year will grow only slightly to around 350,000 vehicles from 317,000 last year.