New sedans hit highway

New sedans hit highway

I. Christianto, Contributor, Jakarta

Indonesia's automotive market has had a good start to the year with favorable sales so far. The first half of the year saw car manufacturers introducing new sedans to the market.

Based on data from the Indonesian Automotive Association (Gaikindo), over 140,000 cars were sold in the first five months of the year. The figure is 8 percent higher than that of sales during the same period last year. Out of a total of 140,769 cars sold in the January-May period, 13,000 cars were sedans.

But while total car sales have increased since 2000, sale of sedan's has gradually decreased. The Data provided by Gaikindo indicates that total car sales in Indonesia reached 300,964 in 2000, 299,558 in 2001 and 317,747 last year. However, sedan sales declined from 46,891 in 2000 to 35,226 in 2001 and only 26,684 in 2002.

According to the data, the sedan's share of the market has also plunged from 20.6 percent in 2000 to 17.6 percent in 2001 and to only 13.2 percent of the market in 2002.

Despite these figures car manufacturers continue to launch new models of the sedan in Indonesia as they believe that Indonesian's are still interested in driving sedans and the market has a profitable future.

Car manufacturers, with only a small share of the market, favor the sedan as a stock vehicle considered to have a favorable future.

Wenda Wonoseputro, president of PT Car and Car Indonesia, the authorized distributor of Volkswagen in Indonesia, admitted that Volkswagen (or VW) holds a limited share of the market in Indonesia. But there are still people eager to own VW cars such as the Polo, the Passat and the Beetle.

"VW's market share is very low in Indonesia as the cars are imported completely built up,(CBU), while other cars are incompletely manufactured and completed in Indonesia," she said, adding that VW was about to launch the new Beetle Cabriolet later this month.

She said her company had sold 80 cars in the first half of the year, mostly Golf and Polo sedans.

Gaikindo has classified the sedan according to the capacity of its engine, It divides the sedan market into three segments: the lower segment 1,800cc), the middle segment (1,800cc-3000cc), and the upper segment (3,000cc). The lowest category of sedan usually equates to mini and small car types, the middle, includes low and high sedans and the luxury, premium sedans, are generally in the upper bracket.

The sale of smaller sedans in Indonesia is monopolized by Toyota, Suzuki and Honda, who share about 75 percent of the market. Other manufacturers selling an increasing number of Sedans of this type include KIA and Hyundai.

Major players in the middle class of the market include the BMW 3 Series, the Honda Civic, the Mercedes Benz C class, the Toyota Altis and the Camry. Other contenders are Ford, Peugeot, and Audi's A3, VW's Golf, the Mitsubishi Lancer and the Nissan Sentra.

Mitsubishi's new Lancer (1.8 SEi CVT) is stylishly designed with a sleek and attractive exterior and luxurious interior, its powerful performance and contemporary features make it a pleasure to drive. The car comes in two models, the SEi Limited CVT (1800cc) and GLXi (1600cc).

Luxury and premium sedans include the BMW 5 Series and 7 series, the Mercedes Benz E and S classes, the Volvo S60 and S80, the Audi A6, the Toyota Crown, the Nissan Infinity and Cefiro, the Jaguar S and X, the VW Passat and the Saab 9-5.

The S60 2.3 Turbo is a Volvo that lives up its manufacturers standards, offering luxury at an affordable price. Volvo has added new features and enhanced earlier designs to produce a sensational new model.

If the S60 isn't what you're looking for, the S80 has already been launched and is for sale in showrooms. The S80 is the top of the range Volvo sedan on the market. Its full-size, luxurious and innovative design and safety features should put it at the top end of the price range. But despite its advanced performance and the best of Volvo's safety features, the cost of the S80 is very reasonable.

The demand for mini and small cars is the most stable area in sedan sales. Mini and small cars are always popular in Indonesia and manufacturers compete to introduce new models on a regular basis.

This year, three major car manufacturers: Toyota, Honda and Suzuki launched new mini-cars, the Toyota Vios, the All New Honda City and the Suzuki Baleno Next-G. Hyundai also produced the Verna.

At the top of the market the Toyota Vios comes in both manual and automatic and is powered by a INZ-FE 4-cylinder, in-line, DOHC, VVT-i, 16-valve engine, which is able to produce a maximum of 109 horsepower at 6,000 revs per minute and a maximum torque of 142 Newton-meters at 4,200 rpm.

The new Suzuki Baleno and Honda City have components to match Toyota's. Competition is fierce in the mini-car market and the price of the cars is set around the same mark (under Rp 170 million) an attractive deal in terms of the sophisticated features the cars offer.

Last year, out of 26,684 sedans sold, 14,317 were mini-cars. In 2001, out of 35,226 sold sedan, more than 26,000 were mini-cars.