Domestic vehicle sales fell 22 percent in Februari

JAKARTA (JP): Domestic vehicle sales dropped 22 percent last month to 24,281 from 31,522 in January, with "national" Timor car sales falling the hardest.

According to PT Astra International's monthly sales report Timor, the sole benefactor of government-granted duty and tax breaks, sold 962 cars last month, down from 3,259 in January.

Despite the plunge Timor sales last month were still higher than sales of other passenger cars. Next was Honda which sold 873 units.

Timor sedan sales peaked at 4,221 in December but have fallen steadily over the past months despite aggressive sales promotion.

PT Timor Distributor National's president Soemitro Soerachmad said the company has been promoting Timor cars throughout the country with incentives such as a 24-month spare parts and service guarantee.

Timor Putra, controlled by President Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo Mandala Putra, currently imports Kia Motor's Sephia sedans, as the company's assembling plant is being built in Karawang, West Java.

The sales of Bimantara's Hyundai passenger cars plunged 45 percent to 254 cars last month from 469 in January.

Sales of passenger cars dropped by 44 percent to 4,123 cars from 7,441 in January. Over 50 percent of the decrease came from the sales of the cars assembled by companies other than Astra.

Commercial car sales decreased by 16 percent to 20,158 last month, from 24,081 in January, with Astra's Toyota pick-ups and trucks leading the drop.

Toyota commercial car sales declined by 20 percent to 4,884 last month from 6,127 in January.

On average the sale of commercial cars by Astra and other companies fell by 17 percent.

Astra commercial car sales dropped to 10,695 from 12,804 in January, while the non-Astra commercial cars decreased to 9,462 from 11,477.

Non-Astra vehicle sales declined by 29 percent last month to 12,605 from 17,786 in January, against the 14 percent decline of Astra-assembled cars to 11,676 from 13,736.

Astra assembles commercial cars including Daihatsus, Isuzus Nissan Diesels and Toyotas. It also assembles BMWs, Daihatsus, Peugeots and Toyota passenger cars.

Export of commercial cars including Daihatsus, Toyotas and Suzukis also dropped last month to 210 from 278 cars in January. (02)