New vehicle sales rise 8.1% by March

New vehicle sales rise 8.1% by March

JAKARTA: New vehicle sales in Indonesia rose 8.1 percent on month to 29,297 units in March, the car assemblers' association Gaikindo said on Thursday.

Of the total, commercial vehicles accounted for 26,676 units in March, up 6.1 percent from 25,133 in February, Gaikindo said.

Passenger car sales - a barometer of consumer confidence - also rose, to 2,621 units from 1,978 units in February.

Sales at Indonesia's largest vehicle maker PT Astra International - which has a joint venture with Toyota Motor Corp. to assemble and distribute the Japanese company's vehicles in Indonesia - increased 3.7 percent to 11,931 units from 11,507 units in February, Gaikindo said.

In the first three months of this year, Astra sold 34,563 cars, or around 42 percent of total national car sales, Gaikindo said. -- Dow Jones