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.