National Timor cars dominate domestic auto market

National Timor cars dominate domestic auto market

JAKARTA (JP): Domestic vehicles sales totaled 29,830 last
month, up 4.1 percent from the 28,645 sold in the same month last
year, with "national" Timor cars topping the list for passenger
cars.

A statement issued by national car assembler PT Astra
International last week reported that Timor, the sole benefactor
of duty and tax breaks granted by the government, sold 1,680 cars
last month.

Although Timor topped the list, it failed to meet the target
of 4,000 cars a month announced by Timor's distributing company,
PT Timor Distributor Nasional last month.

TDN executives claimed that Timor had continued to grab more
than 25 percent of the sedan market since it went on sale in
October.

The Timor sedans, manufactured by Timor Putra in conjunction
with South Korea's Kia Motors Corp., were granted a series of
import duty and luxury tax breaks by the government under the
national car policy announced last February.

Timor Putra, controlled by President Soeharto's youngest son
Hutomo Mandala Putra, currently imports completely built units of
Kia's Sephia sedans because it does not yet have a manufacturing
plant of its own.

In second place after Timor are Honda, with 964 cars sold, and
Suzuki, with 640. None of the above three brands are assembled by
Astra.

The statement said that Astra's total sales, including
exports, were 14,185 vehicles last month, down 7.1 percent from
15,277 in the corresponding month last year.

Astra's total sales made up 47.1 percent of Indonesia's total
commercial and passenger vehicle sales in January.

Astra's total exports were 276 vehicles in January, compared
with 233 last year, while its total domestic sales were 13,909
vehicles, compared to 15,044 last year.

Astra managed to sell 6,127 Toyota commercial vehicles last
month, down from 6,751 in the corresponding month of 1996. Its
sales of Daihatsu commercial cars dropped by 28 percent
to 2,455 last month from 3,416 in the same month last year.

Astra's Toyota passenger cars sales dropped 43 percent to 634
from 1,103 and its sales of Daihatsus declined to only three cars
from 21.

Its Peugeot sales increased by 97 percent to 118 cars from 60.

Astra's sold 66,663 motorbikes last month, up from 48,906 last
year.

It is estimated 325,000 vehicles were sold last year. (pwn)