Local car assemblers cut sedan prices by six percent

Local car assemblers cut sedan prices by six percent

JAKARTA (JP): A number of local automotive vehicle assemblers announced yesterday that they had cut the prices of their sedans by up to six percent following the recent reduction in tariffs on imported vehicles.

Toyota Astra Motor, Astra Mobil, Krama Yudha Tiga Berlian, Indomobil and the sole agent for Mercedes-Benz said that, as of yesterday, they had lowered the prices of their vehicles by between four percent to six percent.

"The new prices are effective as of today," said Maswir, marketing director of Krama Yudha, the assembler and sole distributor of Mitsubishi vehicles such as Gallant, Lancer and Pajero.

Maswir said the showroom price of the Gallant V6 with a manual transmission system had been lowered by Rp 6 million (US$2,696) from Rp 99 million to Rp 93 million and that the price of the Gallant V6 with an automatic transmission system had been lowered from Rp 102 million to Rp 96 million. He said the price of the Gallant VR had been cut by Rp 5 million to Rp 81 million.

The price of a Lancer with a 1,800 cc engine was cut by Rp 4 million to Rp 70 million, a Lancer of 1600 cc with a manual transmission system by Rp 4 million to Rp 62 million and a Lancer with an automatic transmission system by Rp 4 million to Rp 65 million.

"Specially for Pajero, we have reached a consensus with our dealers to cut its on-the-road price by Rp 10 million to Rp 165 million," he said.

Under the government's latest deregulation package, announced on Tuesday, the tariff on sedans and station wagons which have a locally-assembled counterpart has been lowered from 175 percent to 125 percent and will be further reduced to 40 percent by the year 2003.

The tariff on pick-ups has been reduced from 60 percent to 50 percent and will fall further to 30 percent by the year 2003. The tariff on mini buses has been cut from 100 percent to 75 percent and will be cut further to 30 percent by 2003, while the tariff on jeeps has been cut from 100 percent to 75 percent and fall to 30 percent by 2003. The tariff on heavy-duty trucks is set to remain at five percent.

Crown

Alam Wijono, marketing director of Toyota Astra Motor, which assembles Toyota vehicles, said that his company had cut the prices of Crown, Corona, Corolla, Starlet and Toyota Land Cruiser by up to six percent.

The price of Starlet 1.3 SEG, for example, has been cut by 5.1 percent to Rp 46.8 million, Corolla 1.6 SEG M/T by six percent to Rp 71.1 million, Corona 2.0 by 5.2 percent to Rp 91.1 million, Crown 2.0 SS M/T by 5.2 percent to Rp 146.9 million and Land Cruiser VX by 4.8 percent to Rp 157.1 million.

"But Kijang and Dyna are excluded from our price-cutting program because the local content of both products has been over 48 percent and thus they do not benefit from the government's tariff reduction on automotive components," Alam Wijono said, adding that all the new prices came into effect as of yesterday.

The deregulation package cuts the tariff on components used in locally-assembled sedans with a local content of less than 20 percent from 100 percent to 65 percent, while those used in vehicles with a local content of over 60 percent are exempted from import duties.

The tariff on components used in locally-assembled pick-ups with a local content of less than 20 percent has been reduced from 40 percent to 25 percent, while the tariff on those used in locally-assembled pick-ups with a local content of over 40 percent has been abolished completely.

Astra Mobil, the main distributor for BMW, Peugeot and Daihatsu Classy, also announced price cuts yesterday.

The price of Daihatsu Classy has been cut by Rp 2 million, BMW 320i by Rp 8 million, BMW 520i by Rp 10 million, BMW 530i by Rp 15 million and Peugeot 405 STI by Rp 6 million.

Wenda Wonoseputro, marketing director of Star Motors Indonesia, which sells Mercedes-Benz C-180 and Mercedes-Benz E- 329, announced that his company had cut the prices of those models by Rp 8 million and Rp 15 million respectively.

Meanwhile, Indomobil, the assembler and distributor of Suzuki Esteem, Nissan, Volvo and Mazda, announced earlier that the company had cut its prices by up to 5.6 percent.

The price of Suzuki Esteem 1.3 has been cut by 3.9 percent to Rp 49.35 million, Suzuki Esteem 1.6 by 3.7 percent to Rp 51.7 million, Nissan Terrano by 3.6 percent to Rp 79 million, Nissan Supremen Genesis by 5.4 percent to Rp 70 million, Volvo 960 GL by 5.6 percent to Rp 134 million and Volvo 24V Royal by 4.4 percent to Rp 215 million. The prices of Mazda 323 and Mazda 626 were cut by Rp 4 million and Rp 6 million respectively. (rid)