Good for all seasons, except when there's flooding

Hendarsyah Tarmizi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

People have different reasons for buying a particular car. It can be due to the popularity of the car's marque, its safety specification, eye-catching design or sophisticated technology.

The sedan is one of the most popular vehicles for those who put safety and convenience above all. The sedan is also often referred to as a car for all seasons, of course, when there are no floods, which have caused many people in the capital to suffer a lot during the past few days.

Compared with other vehicles, sedans, which have a lower ground clearance, are more vulnerable than other cars when traveling along flooded roads. But of course not all of them.

Despite such a shortcoming, the sedan is one of the most favored car types here. People not only buy the cars for their safety, marque, or convenience, but also to show off their status. Sedans are all about the status of their owners.

Senior government officials, for example, use expensive sedans to show respect to their foreign guests. Businesspeople have expensive limousines to gain the confidence and trust of their business partners.

At a wedding ceremony, it is quite unusual if the newlywed couple rides in a car other than a limousine.

Indonesia is one of Asia's most lucrative markets for such a vehicle. Although the sedan market suffered a drop last year in line with the fall in overall automobile demand, the prospect remains promising, according to a car market analyst.

According to data provided by the association of Indonesian car producers (Gaikindo), total sales of passenger cars (which include sedans, 4 X 2 cars such as Kijang vans, and 4 X 4 cars such as the Land Cruiser,) dropped by about 25 percent to 35,203 units last year, from 46,876 in 2000.

The figure contributed about 11 percent of total automobile sales in 2001, which reached 299,629 units. The sales of other vehicles, including commercial cars, totaled about 244,441 units, or about 88.5 percent of total automotive sales.

Long-established players such as Toyota, Honda and Suzuki continue to dominate the local sedan market despite the entry of several new names, following the government's decision to allow imports of completely-built-up sedans two years ago.

Previously the government only allowed the importation of cars in completely-knocked-down (CKD) form in a bid to promote local assembly activities.

In the mini category (1,500 cc), the Toyota Soluna, which was only introduced to the market in early 2000, dominated last year, with a market share of 37.4 percent.

Tailing behind were the Suzuki Baleno, with a market share of 22.6 percent and the Honda City, at 14.6 percent.

The three cars, which sell at Rp 140 million to Rp 175 million (about US$16,600), became the best-selling cars in the domestic market last year.

Market analysts contributed the Soluna's robust sales to distributor PT Toyota Astra Motor's decision to allow sales of the car to taxicab companies.

But TAM's marketing communications manager Hendrayadi Lastioso said that sales of Solunas to taxicab companies were only a small part of the total.

"Sales to taxicab companies were about 1,500 units, while total sales reached 7,545 units," he told The Jakarta Post.

The market segment for small sedans is also dominated by Toyota, with its Corolla car brand. Last year the Toyota Corolla managed to book a market share of 52.1 percent in that category, followed by the Honda Civic and Mitsubishi Lancer, with market shares of 33.5 percent and 11.5 percent respectively.

Although Toyota has been quite successful in maintaining its dominance in the two market categories, it failed to compete with BMW and Mercedes in the medium and luxury sedan category.

In this market segment, the BMW 3 Series was the market leader last year, with the Mercedes C series tailing behind at second place, followed by Honda Accord.

Toyota Camry, which is also competing in the same class only booked a market share of 9.4 percent.

"The newly introduced Camry, the replacement for the Toyota Corona, is in the process of establishing its name. But the market response has been quite good lately," Hendrayadi said.

The two European car makers also dominated the luxury sedan market. The Mercedes E Series was the market leader in its class last year, with a market share of 38.2 percent, followed by the BMW 5 Series in second place at 33.73 percent. The Toyota Crown occupied third position, at 6.22 percent.

Hendriyadi believed that the established market players would continue to dominate the sedan market, although there was fierce competition from new names, either from new car powerhouse South Korea or European and American producers.