Timor claims 30% of sedan market

JAKARTA (JP): PT Timor Distributor Nasional (TDN), the distributing arm of national car licensee PT Timor Putra Nasional, claims it has grabbed over 30 percent of the sedan market since Timor sedans hit the market in October.

TDN Director Richard Hendarmo said Wednesday evening that Timor sedan sales in Jakarta reached 848 units in October (32.5 percent of the sedan market), 1,043 units in November (38.5 percent) and 632 units in December (27.2 percent).

Compared to the total automobile sales in the city -- which includes trucks and vans -- Timor got 8.4 percent of the market in October, 10.7 percent in November and 8.3 percent in December.

Richard said the figures were based on data from the office for vehicle licensing and taxing, which is managed jointly by police and the municipality.

"For this year, we plan to sell at least 4,000 units a month, or about 160 a day," Richard said.

He said this would be achieved by boosting promotional activities, including door-to-door marketing.

Timor sedans are made by Timor Putra in conjunction with South Korea's Kia Motors Corp. and the government granted them a series of import duty and luxury tax breaks as part of the national car policy.

Timor Putra, controlled by President Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo Mandala Putra, imports completely built units of Kia's Sephia sedans because it does not have a manufacturing plant of its own. The company is now constructing a manufacturing plant in Karawang, West Java, and an assembling plant in Surabaya, East Java.

Earlier this month, giant car assembler PT Indomobil agreed to assemble Timor sedans at its assembling plant in Bekasi, West Java.

Richard said TDN had 47 integrated showrooms, workshops and spare part dealers across the country to market the sedans.

The company would add more outlets later this year to serve the eastern part of the country, he said.

Richard said TDN would go public later this year to expand its distributing network. He said the company was likely to sell about 20 percent of its equity on local stock exchanges.

Timor Putra owns most TDN shares.

Indonesia's national car policy has angered several countries. The United States, Japan and the European Union have threatened to take Indonesia to the World Trade Organization (WTO). They have said the policy breaches international trade rules.

But Minister of Industry and Trade Tunky Ariwibowo said earlier this week no country had yet filed a claim with the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body. (pwn)