Domestic car sales jump 41% in April

JAKARTA (JP): Domestic car sales in April rose by 41 percent to 5,100 vehicles, from 3,619 units in the previous month, according to the latest report issued by the Association of Indonesian Automotive Industries.

April sales of passenger cars jumped to 705 units, from 676 in March, while commercial car sales rose 49 percent to 4,395 units, from 2,943 units in March.

Car exports in April rose 56 percent to 3,333 units, from 2,135 units in March, bringing the total number of cars sold both locally and overseas to 8,434 units in April.

The country's largest automaker PT Astra International continued to dominate automobile sales, selling 2,117 vehicles locally in April, or 41.5 percent of total domestic vehicle sales for the month. It sold 2,016 commercial cars and 101 passenger cars during the month.

Cars sold by Astra included Toyota, Daihatsu and Isuzu from Japan, Germany's BMW and France's Peugeot.

The company also exported 3,233 vehicles in April, an increase from 2,003 units in March.

Mitsubishi led the domestic commercial car market with 1,236 vehicles sold in April, followed by Toyota with 1,039 vehicles.

Astra's Toyota exported 3,211 vehicles in the month, more than any other vehicle manufacturer.

The monthly domestic sales figure was the highest level since May last year, when the country was rocked by widespread riots. The sharp depreciation of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar caused a sharp increase in car prices, dragging down car sales.

Analysts said the sharp increase in April sales was attributed mainly to the lower price of four-wheeled vehicles following improvement in the rupiah's value.

Despite the sharp increase in sales, analysts believe sales will remain low, as buyers are concerned about security ahead of the June 7 general election.

"Sales will go up again if the general and the November presidential election run smoothly. But it is also very dependent on the rupiah's value," an analyst said.

Another analyst said car manufacturers and potential buyers were anxiously waiting for the government's new automotive policy before making a decision to buy or sell their cars.

The new automotive policy, which contains reductions on import duties on several automotive components, and abolishment of local content requirement, is expected to lower prices of four-wheeled vehicles and motorcycles.

Analysts earlier predicted automotive sales would decline to between 40,000 cars and 50,000 cars this year, from 58,000 cars last year, because demand remained low.

During the first three months of this year, local car sales totaled 13,940 units, comprising 1,989 passenger cars and 11,951 commercial cars.

Timor, which recently lost the special tax privilege given by the government for its national car project, was ranked first in the sales of passenger cars in April, presumedly due to its competitive sedan prices. The company sold 219 cars in April, down from 101 vehicles in the previous month.

It was followed by Honda with 134 vehicles and Mitsubishi with 87 cars.

The Timor sedans were imported from South Korea's Kia Motors by PT Timor Putra Nasional, controlled by former president Soeharto's youngest son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, under the now defunct controversial national car program.

During the first four months of this year, Toyota led sales of commercial cars with 3,332 cars sold, followed by Mitsubishi with 3,235 cars.

The data also showed domestic motorcycle sales climbed 9.7 percent to 35,162 units in March, from 32,035 units the previous month.

In the period from January to April, 107,731 motorcycles were sold.

Astra sold 20,423 units of its Honda motorcycles in April, slightly down from 20,676 units in March.

Indonesia is suffering its worst ever economic crisis, with the rupiah losing more than 70 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar since July last year. The sharp depreciation of the rupiah's value has nearly tripled car prices.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, existing local automotive companies are only operating at 15 percent of their production capacity due to sluggish sales. (gis)