Southeast Asean auto sales surge as region rebounds

Southeast Asean auto sales surge as region rebounds

SINGAPORE (AFP): Auto sales in Southeast Asia's four biggest
markets surged in January and February, with Indonesia posting
more than 400 percent growth from the same period last year, an
industry survey showed.

New vehicle sales in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the
Philippines in the first two months of the year reached 121,384
units, up 56.2 percent, according to a report by Visteon, a
global auto component maker, received here Wednesday.

Toyota Motor Corp. of Japan was the regional leader with a
market share of 20.4 percent, followed by Proton of Malaysia with
18.3 percent. Commercial vehicles outsold passenger cars.

Malaysia topped the sales figures with 45,983 units, up 16.1
percent from a year ago, but Indonesia posted the most explosive
growth, with 29,098 units sold, 460.6 percent up compared to the
low base of 5,191 units a year ago.

Thai sales rose 46.5 percent to 32,391, while Philippine sales
were up 28.9 percent to 13,912.

"The strong increase in Indonesia's sales will help support
sales of the whole region through 2000," said Terry Yanagisawa,
Visteon's manager for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) region.

Among the manufacturers, Toyota and Proton were trailed by
Perodua, Malaysia's number two carmaker, and Japan's Mitsubishi,
Isuzu, Honda and Nissan. Proton and Perodua combined achieved 29
percent of all sales.

In terms of auto categories, commercial vehicles posted 76.7
percent growth in January and February to 62,866 units, while
passenger car sales rose 38.9 percent to 58,518.

In Bangkok, Toyota Motor Thailand said total vehicle sales in
the country jumped 51.2 percent in the first three months of the
year due to lower interest rates and intensive marketing
campaigns by car-makers.

Sales from January to March stood at 54,786 units, a sharp
increase from 36,234 units sold in the same period a year
earlier, Toyota Motor Thailand said in a statement.

Toyota assembles statistics for the whole industry in
Thailand.

"Low interest rate offers and graduated payments contributed
to the jump in sales," it said.

Gerald Kania, president of Ford's ASEAN operations said in
Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday that Southeast Asian auto sales will
fully recover by 2003 from the regional financial crisis but
markets must integrate to boost growth and efficiency.