Luxury car dealers enjoy roaring sales
Luxury car dealers enjoy roaring sales
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The black car stands elegantly on a circular stage in the
automobile expo currently being held at the Jakarta Convention
Center. It seems to be chiseled beautifully with cream-colored
leather seats inside.
Apart from its elegant looks, to the layman's eyes the car
does not look all that special.
But it is a Bentley Arnage T, a luxurious hand-made car from
Britain that is worth Rp 4.8 billion (US$578,000) off the road,
the same as, say, 40 new taxis in Jakarta.
The car does not have any high-technology features such as a
racing engine or computerized system. But, according to the
salesman, its body was chiseled by hand and painted 12 times,
while the seat leather was cow hide and hand-tailored.
Amid the country's slow economic growth and in the view of the
chronic traffic congestion in Jakarta, would anybody eventually
buy the Rp 4.8 billion car?
"Oh, I'm optimistic that we can sell at least one Bentley
during this exhibition," a Bentley salesman told The Jakarta Post
on Monday, the fourth day of the 12th Gaikindo Auto Expo.
He may be right to be optimistic as after only three days of
the exhibition, about 20 luxury cars with prices ranging from Rp
350 million to Rp 900 million had found new homes.
"Since Friday, we have already sold 11 Jaguars," said Ardhani
Sugiharto, an executive with the British firm.
The favorite types are the Jaguar X-Type 2.0 worth Rp 555
million on the road and the Jaguar S-Type 3.0 worth Rp 850
million on the road. Some of the cars are already available but
if a buyer wants a Jaguar with a particular color, he or she will
have to wait for two or three months, he said.
Another high-end automaker, Sweden's Volvo, has also sold
eight luxury cars during the three days of the exhibition.
"Four of the cars sold are new models, the XC 90 2.9," Dwi
Vianasari, Volvo's local head, told the Post, pointing at a big
sports utility vehicle (SUV).
The car costs Rp 893 million on the road. However, the buyers
will have to wait until November before they can experience the
luxury for themselves.
Both Volvo and Jaguar sales staff said that the recent
weakening of the U.S. dollar against the rupiah had not affected
the prices of the cars.
"There's a lapse of time between the ordering of the car and
the arrival date, so we cannot set the price based on the
fluctuations of the dollar," said Dwi.
Meanwhile, Germany's Mercedes-Benz shared the same optimistic
mood as the other high-end automakers.
"Although we cannot sell cars here in the expo because we have
not involved our dealers, since Friday a lot of visitors have
shown serious interest in buying our cars," said Amriel Aditya,
corporate communications officer at PT DaimlerChrysler
Distribution Indonesia.
DaimlerChrysler, a German-American automaker, which produces
Mercedes-Benz, Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge and Smart cars, is
participating in the expo only to display its technology and some
new products like its sports sedan cabriolet, the Mercedes CLK
320 and its two-passenger city car, the Smart.
Earlier on Friday, Bambang Trisulo, chairman of the Indonesian
Automotive Industry Association (Gaikindo), said that 340,000
cars would be sold this year in the country, a 7 percent increase
over the 317,000 cars sold last year.