The automotive sector in Indonesia has seen a good

The automotive sector in Indonesia has seen a good sign with favorable total sales in the first five months this year, while various carmakers keep introducing new sedans to the audience.

Based on the data from the Indonesian Automotive Association (Gaikindo), over 140,000 cars were sold in the first five month this year, up by 8 percent compared from the corresponding period last year. Out of the total 140,769 cars sold in the January-May period this year, 13,000 units were sedans. On the contrary of the increase of total car sales since 2000, the growth rate of sedan's sales has decreased gradually in recent years. Data from Gaikindo show total car sales reached 300,964 in 2000 and 299,558 in 2001 and 317,747 last year. Sales of sedan, however, reached only 46,891 in 2000, 35,226 in 2001 and 26,684 in 2002.

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

However, carmakers always introduce and launch new series or brands of sedans in Indonesia, as they believe the national market for new sedan remains prospective.

Even the less popular carmakers, in term of market share, always launch their new series of sedans.

Wenda Wonoseputro, president of PT Car and Car Indonesia, the authorize distributor of Volkswagen in Indonesia, admitted that Volkswagen or VW is one of the names holding limited market share in Indonesia, but there were still people eager to own VW cars such as Polo, Passat and Beetle.

"VW's market share is very low in Indonesia as the cars are imported based on the CBU (completely built up), while other cars are incompletely knocked down 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 units in the first half this year, mostly Golf and Polo sedans.

Gaikindo classifies sedan into three segments according to engine capacity: lower segment (up to 1,800cc), medium/middle segment (1,800cc-3000cc), and upper segment (over 3,000cc). The lower category is also known as the mini and small car types, while the medium include the low and high sedans, while the luxury, premium sedan are usually in the upper category.

Eventually, the sedan category in Indonesia is under control of Toyota, Suzuki and Honda, which dominated about 75 percent share altogether. Other brands getting more popular in this class including KIA and Hyundai. Major players in the middle class include BMW 3 Series, Honda Civic, Mercedes Benz C class and Toyota Altis and Camry. The others comprise of Ford, Peugeot, and the A3 of Audi, Golf of VW, Lancer of Mitsubishi and Sentra of Nissan.

In this class, there is, among others, Mitsubishi's new Lancer 1.8 SEi CVT which presents a new charm, a beautiful and elegant outside look, full of style and luxurious interior and best performance. The car comes with two types, SEi Limited CVT (1800cc) and GLXi (1600cc).

Meanwhile, the players in the upper sector mainly includes BMW 5 Series and 7 and Mercedes Benz E and S classes, Volvo S60 and S80, Audi A6, Toyota Crown, Honda Accord, Nissan Infinity and Cefiro, Jaguar S and X, VW Passat and Saab 9-5.

The S60 2.3 Turbo is just an example that Volvos have offered, as usual, something valuable with a host of enhancements across the range adding more features, luxury and value for money.

In addition to the S60, the S80 is already in showrooms. The latter is the top level Volvo sedan on the market today. It is a full-size luxury sedan, it has all the performance, luxury and safety equipment that Volvo can test and install. Volvo has put in all its most innovative and advanced performance and handling equipment but the cost is quite reasonable when compared against competitors with the same specifications and interior content. Both of middle and upper classes hold small market shares. But the demand for mini and small cars in the lower category is expected to remain stable in the upcoming years. Corresponding with the purchasing power of most people in the country, the mini and small cars are popular. Therefore, every carmaker is competing to introduce new types and brands regularly.

Earlier this year, in about the same span, three major carmakers, Toyota, Honda and Suzuki launched their new brands of minicar. The cars include Toyota Vios, All New Honda City and Suzuki Baleno Next-G. Other players in this section include Hyundai Verna.

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

Yet, the new Baleno and City have also their own particularities, therefore rivalry is very stiff among the three. In addition, the prices of such cars are set under Rp 170 million, an attractive price due to the sophisticated features they offer.

Competition in this segment is pretty tough as the market share of small and minicars is relatively a bit higher compared to the other segments in the sedan category. Last year, out of 26,684 sold sedans, 14,317 were minicars. In 2001, out of 35,226 sold sedan, more than 26,000 were minicars.