Toyota and Honda continue to dominate local car market

Hendarsyah Tarmizi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Toyota and Honda continue to dominate the passenger car sales despite the entry of several newcomers to Indonesia's growing automotive market.

The popular Toyota Avanza and Toyota Innova models remain market leaders in the low and mid-range Multipurpose Van (MPV) markets.

Honda Jazz and its sister the CRV have stayed at the top of the country's low-and mid-range sedan and high-grade Sport Utility Van (SUV) markets.

Based on data issued by the Association of Indonesian Automotive Industries (Gaikindo), Avanza continued its domination in the low-range MPV market in the first semester of this year, with a 34 percent market share.

Avanza sales reached 26,456 units during the first six months of the year, a remarkable increase of 34.5 percent from 19,674 units in the same period last year.

Suzuki MVP, which just entered the market last year, was in second place with total sales of 15,183 units during the January to June period. The Daihatsu Xenia was in third place with total sales of about 13,282 units, an increase of 34.8 percent from the first semester of last year.

The entry of Suzuki MVP into the market and the surge in sales of Avanza and Xenia partly contributed to the drop in Suzuki Carry sales to 12,142 units, or about 26 percent lower than the previous semester.

The lower sales also caused a drop in Suzuki Carry's market share to fourth position, followed by the Mitsubishi T 120 and the Suzuki Karimun.

The Suzuki Carry was the second most popular MPV after the Toyota Kijang before the introduction of its latest generation Toyota Innova, Avanza and Xenia two years ago.

Avanza vans, which are available in three different models with on-the-road price tags of between Rp 95 million and Rp 125 million, is the shining star of the Toyota vehicles in Indonesia, despite the fact that it shares the same Daihatsu engine with its close rival Xenia.

Like Avanza, Innova has also successfully maintained its leadership in the medium MPV market. In the first semester of this year, Innova sales rose 33.6 percent to 39,707 units from its sales in the first six months of last year, despite the entry of the newcomer Nissan Serene in the medium MPV market.

With such huge sales, Innova succeeded in controlling more than 70 percent of the market share in the medium MVP market. The car, which sells for between Rp 145 million and Rp 225 million, depending on the model, competes head-to-head with several favorite names in its class, including the Suzuki Escudo, Daihatsu Taruna, Honda Stream, Mitsubishi Kuda and the Nissan Serene.

During the first semester of this year, Escudo was second in the market with total sales of 2,758 units, while Taruna was in third with total sales of 2,445 units, Stream in fourth with total sales of 2,138 units, Mitsubishi Kuda in fifth and Serene in sixth with sales of 1,132 units.

In the small and medium sedan market, Honda Jazz is the most popular car in the country. Honda Jazz, which competes with its sister Honda City, Toyota Limo, Toyota Vios and Hyundai Access in the class, booked total sales of about 16,719 units, an increase of 114.7 percent from the first six months of last year. With its sales, the Honda Jazz held a 53 market share in the small and medium sedan market.

Trailing Honda Jazz were its sister Honda City with total sales of 5,330 units during this year's first six months, while Toyota Limo was in third with total sales of 3,216 units, Toyota Vios in forth with sales of 2,483 units and the Hyundai Accent in fifth.

Also competing in this market segment were the Suzuki Baleno and the newly launched Ford Focus, which is now also available in other Asian countries such as China, Taiwan, Thailand and Malaysia.

First unveiled at the Paris Automotive Show in 2004, the new Focus is an evolution of its predecessor the original Ford Focus, which took the European and North American markets by storm in 1998 and became the first car to win Car of the Year on both continents.

The arrival of the new car will likely further tighten the mid-size car sedan market in Indonesia, which is now dominated by Honda.

Honda's domination of the Indonesian car market can also be seen in the high-range MVP and SUV market. The Honda CRV, which booked total sales of 4,466 units in the first semester of this year, 13 percent higher than in the same period last year, remained the market leader in its class with a market share of 35.3 percent.

Honda CRV competes with the Nissan X-Trail in this market segment. The latter booked total sales of 4,464 units, an increase of 23.5 percent compared to the same period last year, placing it in second place in the market, close behind the Honda CRV.

Success was also enjoyed by the newly launched Mitsubishi Grandis, which entered the market early this year. As of June, the new car booked total sales of 860 units, positioning it in third place in the market with a 6.8 percent share.

KIA Sportage was in fourth position in the high MVP and SUV market, followed by the Hyundai Trajet and the Honda Odyssey.

The high SUV market is among the country's most lucrative car market segments. Several other well-known SUV models such as the Ford Escape, the new Hyundai Tucson and the Mazda 3 also compete in this class.

In total, the country's car sales grew by about 30 percent in the first semester of this year to 295,774 units from 226,126 units in the same period last year.

In the overall market, including commercial vehicles and trucks, Toyota remained the leader with a market share of 31 percent, followed by Mitsubishi, the leader in the mid-size truck market, with a market share of 17.4 percent, and Suzuki with a market share of 17.3 percent.

Although Honda trails Toyota, Mitsubishi and Suzuki in the overall market, its share in the mid-size sedan, MPV and SUV markets continues to grow.