Indonesia Projected to Lead Southeast Asian Car Sales

Tuesday, 13 July 2010

ANTARA News Agency

Indonesia is set to lead car sales in the Southeast Asian region this year with domestic sales expected to hit a record high of above 700 thousand units.

"If no obstacle happens the domestic car sales can exceed 700 thousand units," Co-chairman of the Association of Indonesian Automotive Industries (Gaikindo) Johnny Darmawan said here on Tuesday.

The figure would put Indonesia in the first place in terms of car sales in the region, overtaking Thailand whose domestic car sales reached 680 thousand last year, he said.

Thailand had set the target of domestic car sales for 2010 at 700,000 units, he said.
"In the first semester of this year, our domestic car sales reached 370 thousand units. The figure can double to (740 thousand units) at the end of this year," he said.

He said the first-semester car sales went beyond the preliminary projection made by sole authorized agents (ATPM).

The increase in car sales was the result of robust domestic economy and growing export performance, helped by the primary commodity sector, he said.

The improving prices of plantation and mining commodities encouraged the purchase of commercial cars, he said.

"In the first semester of 2010 commercial car sales neared the number of commercial cars sold last year," he said.

Domestic commercial car sales in the first half of 2010 jumped 86 percent to 107,470 units compared to 56,803 units in the same period last year.