Wooing car lovers with promises of comfort, luxury

Rudijanto, Contributor/Jakarta

Toyota's recent announcement that it is to introduce a new car called the International Multipurpose Vehicle (IMV) has created great curiosity in the domestic automotive market, even though the company has yet to unveil the specifications and design of the new vehicle.

Previously, Toyota and Daihatsu successfully played the same game with their respective Avanza and Xenia models. The announcement of new city cars resulted in a long list of orders. The buyers placed their orders even without knowing what shape the cars would take.

In its latest move, PT Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indonesia (TMMIN) and PT Toyota-Astra Motor (TAM) announced that the new IMV would be launched in Indonesia this year. The new car is the fruit of what the Toyota terms its "Global Quality Project" (GQ Project).

Using the same marketing technique, Suzuki has also aroused the market's curiosity with its announcement of the new Suzuki APV. The company has even kept the meaning of "APV" a secret. What clues we have suggest that the acronym stands for "All- Purpose Vehicle" or even "Asian Purpose Vehicle".

Scheduled for launching this month, the Suzuki APV will carry a price tag of Rp 100 million (about US$11,000), the same price as the Toyota Avanza.

The Suzuki APV, which has a 1.5 liter engine, can accommodate eight passengers. This is why Suzuki calls it "Magic 8".

The launching of new car models has become an important marketing strategy to lure new buyers. This is might the reason why Toyota also introduced New Camry, the latest generation of its Camry sedan.

The New Camry features several design improvements, particularly in the radiator grill, front headlights and bumper, with added fog lamps, side protector moldings, grip type door handles, and bigger wheels and tires. There is also additional safety equipment, including a back sonar and corner sensors.

The new sedan's interior also has several changes such as to the inside door handle, rearview mirror, and door scuff plates. On sale for about Rp 500 million, the New Camry is aimed at the middle and high end markets, which is why it has a more luxurious and elegant look than its predecessor, Toyota Camry.

Another way to attract buyers is to present new and unique features, such as the much touted Pre-Safe and Kompressor technologies of Daimler Chrysler. These two technologies are used in two Daimler Chrysler series, the S-290L and S-350L.

Daimler Chrysler's Deputy Director, Marketing Planning & Communication Yuniadi H. Hartono says such technological innovations have become the worldwide trend in line with improvements in safety, and environmental and energy-saving awareness.

Mercedes-Benz 180 sales, which reached 522 vehicles last year, amounted to 196 vehicles between January and June 2004, while sales of the Mercedes-Benz E-200 amounted to 148 vehicles in the first six months of this year, more than a half of the total figure of 236 vehicles booked in 2003. Sales of Mercedes-Benz S- 280 L and S-350 L cars stood at 160 vehicles in 2003, with 66 vehicles being sold in the first six months of this year.

The emphasis on technological achievement is also reflected in the new BMW X5 and the new BMW X3, both of which feature xDrive technology. Termed as the world's most intelligent four-wheel technology innovation, xDrive increases road grip, agility and safety.

The xDrive system is said to enable power and torque increases to be converted into usable traction in all driving situations. This system uses information from wheel sensors and data collected by the Dynamic Stability Control system, including the yawrate and steering angle, and predicts any loss of traction or tire slippage and reacts in a few milliseconds.

This xDrive system also uses a mid-mounted, electrically controlled multi disc clutch to distribute drive constantly between the front and rear wheels, varying torque delivery to the wheels which most require it. BMW believes that this system is most useful in dynamic driving situations such as off-road and on slippery surfaces or inclines.

With such capabilities, no wonder BMW applied the xDrive technology to its newly launched Sport Activity Vehicle (SAV), the BMW X3. Equipped with such technology, the BMW X3 tries to present a compelling blend of agility, uniquely dynamic and sporty performance, and impressive off-road capabilities, without leaving luxury behind.

"The SUV market worldwide continues to develop dynamically. In the next 10 years, experts see ongoing growth of the overall SUV segment by approximately 50 percent. We are confident that the mid-sized SAV X3 will continue the success and greatness of the X5 in this market," PT BMW Indonesia's President Director Josef Honsel said.

Comfort, luxury, technological superiority and safety constitute the most emphasized features in high end cars such as BMWs and Mercedes-Benzes. On the other hand, affordability remains the greatest selling point of low-end cars such as the Toyota Avanza and Daihatsu Xenia.

However, in the not too distant future manufacturers will have to take into account the environmental requirements that are slowly creeping in the market. The Office of the State Minister for the Environment has issued Decree No. 141/2003, which requires the implementation of Euro-2 emission standards for all cars produced from January 2005.

Certainly, European high-end car manufacturers will not have any problem with environmental requirements in Indonesia, but low-end car makers may have to adjust their prices as they will have to include more equipment to meet the environmental standards.

There seems to be room for growth on the part of all players in the Indonesian market, from the low-end segment such as the Daihatsu Xenia (priced from Rp 70 million) to the high-end segment, such as the BMW X3 3.0i and 2.5i, which are sold respectively at about Rp 850 million and Rp 750 million on the road in Jakarta, or the fine-tuned BMW X5, which is sold at Rp 998 million on the road for the 3.01 model and Rp 1.46 billion on the road in Jakarta for the 4.4i model.

There is no doubt that expensive cars such as the 3.01 model of the BMW X5 will find buyers on the domestic market. Even in a so-called communist country such as China, there was a buyer for a Maybach 62, which is sold at Rp 8.1 billion ($900,000), as reported by the International Herald Tribune daily.

Though this sounds like a contradiction of reality given that Rp 8.1 billion is equals to an average Chinese factory worker's salary for 1,000 years, it is precisely the ability to take advantage of such contradictions that keeps on boosting automotive sales in countries such as China and Indonesia.