Luxury car distributors upbeat on 2001 sales
JAKARTA (JP): Domestic luxury car distributors expressed optimism that they could meet the 2001 sales target despite the country's economic woes.
Paulus B. Suranto, head of marketing at PT BMW Indonesia, said his company was confident to achieve a projected sales target of around 3,300 sales this year, a 17 percent increase as compared to 2,821 last year.
"We're confident as the company has sold 1,664 units as of June. It will not be difficult to sell the remaining 1,600 given the current positive development in economic indicators," Paulus told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, pointing to the strengthening of the rupiah and stronger stock market.
BMW Indonesia is the sole domestic distributor for German-made BMW luxury cars.
The rupiah soared to a five-month high of Rp 9,850 per dollar on Tuesday as the market continued to celebrate the election of Megawati Soekarnoputri as the new President, replacing Abdurrahman Wahid.
The removal of Abdurrahman is expected to end prolonged political infighting and activate a turnaround in the economy.
"If there are no unfavorable developments, the car market will remain relatively stable," Paulus said.
He said BMW cars controlled a 49 percent share of the country's luxury car market as of June this year.
"With the increase in sales, we expect to get a greater share of up to 55 percent by the end of the year," he said.
BMW Indonesia is displaying six new models, including BMW 3 series convertible, BMW 5 series, BMW X5, BMW Z 3, and its only classic limousine BMW 3200S Staatlimousine at the Gaikindo 11th Auto Expo 2001 in Jakarta, which will last until Sunday.
Within the first three days of the exhibition, the company had sold 12 units.
Meanwhile, Jaguar local distributor, PT Prima Auto Grupindo, also voiced similar optimism, saying the company aimed to sell 204 units this year, a 35 percent increase from 151 units last year.
MG Welly Oka, sales manager of Prima Auto Grupindo, said the company was convinced it could achieve the sales target despite the fact the company had only been able to sell 35 units in the first half of this year.
Welly said that the company's car sales in the second half would be stronger with the launching of a new Jaguar model, the Jaguar X-type, which had received strong positive response from car aficionados.
"Within only three days of our exhibition, some 14 buyers have expressed interest in the X-type, or almost half of the total indent of 30 units," Welly told The Post
Welly said the company expected to be able to sell 50 units of the X-type car model this year, adding that the cars would arrive here in November.
Prima Auto displayed five Jaguar car models at the auto expo including the S-type and XKR-type with a price range of between Rp 680 million to Rp 2.3 billion each.
Separately, president of automaker PT Indomobil Soebronto Laras also expressed optimism about the luxury car market this year.
"The luxury car market is relatively stable as it targets a specific market segment, people in the high income bracket," he said. (03)