Costly Bentley turns heads at motor show

Costly Bentley turns heads at motor show

Novan Iman Santosa and Primastuti Handayani, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Before they were officially "unveiled" to the press, many
photographers had already taken pictures of the two fenced-off
cars under a large billboard that read "Bentley".

And to many, what made these cars interesting was not merely
their whopping prices -- the Bentley New Arnage R is tagged at Rp
6 billion (about US$643,638.70) while the Bentley Continental GT
is priced at Rp 4.5 billion, both off the road -- but the fact
their customers may have to wait for months or even years to get
their cars delivered, as is the case with the Continental.

The price of the latest Arnage T broke last year's record set
by the same model at Gaikindo Auto Expo where the Bentley car was
then priced at a much more reasonable Rp 4.8 billion.

PT Grandauto Dinamika marketing communications official
Tryfena Sri Rahayoe, said that 15 orders have been made for the
Continental GT in the past two years, but the company had only
been able to deliver one. The company is the sole distributor of
Bentley and Jaguar cars here.

"Each Bentley takes about four months to be made, based on the
customer's specifications. There's no two Bentleys that are
exactly the same," she said on Friday.

The Bentleys were only two of dozens of new cars and
motorcycles unveiled at the Second Jakarta Motor Show and Second
Jakarta Motorcycle Show at the Jakarta Convention Center.

At the car show, Volkswagen launched its Touareg Sports
Utility Vehicles (SUV), with prices ranging between Rp 800
million and Rp 1.22 billion off the road.

Audi also launched its New A6 3.0 multitronic and A6 3.0
quattro, which are offered at Rp 875 million and Rp 925 million
respectively.

Another much-awaited -- and much more affordable -- car on
offer is Toyota's Kijang Innova, which is offered from Rp 136.5
million to Rp 220 million, depending on the model.

Both events were officially opened by Ministry of Trade and
Industry Rini MS Soewandi. Rini said the automotive industry had
high added value as it involved component and other supporting
industries.

"The industry has invested more than US$1 billion (in
Indonesia) and additional investments are on the way," she said
in her speech. "The automotive industry is a priority sector (for
Indonesia) and we should export more products with more local
content."

"There are about 70 motorcycle assemblers all using different
technology. It would be better if companies with similar
technology worked hand-in-hand to produce their own components,"
she said.

Statistics from the Association of Indonesian Automotive
Manufacturers (Gaikindo) show there were 354,311 vehicles sold
last year, an increase of 11.5 percent compared to 2002. While in
the first half of 2004, 226,155 vehicles had been sold out of the
revised full-year target of more than 420,000 units.

Sales of vehicles in 1998 reached the lowest point following
the 1997 monetary crisis, with only 517,000 motorcycles and
48,000 cars sold.

Separately, the Association of Indonesian Motorcycle
Manufacturers (AISI) said it expected a total sales of more than
3.4 million units this year compared to some 2.8 million
motorcycles last year.

"The Indonesian automotive industry should ask its respected
principals (parent companies) to invite their parts suppliers to
invest in Indonesia," Rini said.

The public can see the latest cars and motorcycles on offer
from Saturday (today) until Sept. 12. Tickets cost Rp 20,000 for
weekdays and Rp 25,000 for weekends.