Car sales up in August: Gaikindo

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

New vehicle sales at home increased slightly by 0.8 percent to 27,119 units in August from July, the Indonesian Automakers Association (Gaikindo) said on Tuesday.

Gaikindo said that commercial vehicles accounted for 24,678 units of total sales during the month, or a 1.6 percent increase from July.

But the association said that sales volumes for passenger cars declined to 2,441 units in August from 2,597 in the previous month.

It added that the country's largest car maker PT Astra International also suffered a 4.2 percent decline in sales volume to 10,849 units from 11,328 units.

Vehicle sales is seen as an indicator of consumer confidence. A rising confidence is positive for the economy as the government is relying on domestic consumption as the main source of economic growth this year as exports and investments have been weakening due to various uncertainties at home and overseas.

This year's economic growth is projected at around 4 percent.

Domestic car sales has been on the rise recently as people are getting more confident to purchase new vehicles amid stronger rupiah against the U.S. dollar, lower inflation, and a relatively stable political situation.

The rupiah has been strengthening since the beginning of this year, and now is hovering at around Rp 8,900 per dollar.

The robust sales prompted Gaikindo to revise upward its 2002 car sales forecast to 320,000 units from the initial projection of 300,000 units.

Total new vehicle sales at home has so far have reached 212,919, Gaikindo said.

Industry experts have also said that the stronger domestic car sales marked the recovery of the country's automotive industry after it was hit by the late 1990s economic crisis.

Car makers in the Southeast Asian countries have also seen their sales this year increasing.