JAKARTA (TheInsiderStories) – Indonesia recorded car sales of 853,008 units in the ten months to October, down 17.81 percent from the same period last year of 1,037,890 units, due to weaker purchasing power of consumers on the back of lower economic growth.
In the month of October, total industry car sales reached 88,325 units, down 16.06 percent from the same month last year at 105,222 units. In previous month, total industry car sales were at 93,038 units, Astra International said, citing Gaikindo data.
PT Astra International Tbk remained the dominant market player in the month of October as well as in the ten months period.
In October, Astra International sold 45,668 units of cars, compared to 49,668 units in October last year, or 8.18 percent lower, while low cost green car (LCGC) cars sales totaled 7,808 units, compared to 8,702 units in October last year.
Non-Astra car sales in October reached 42,657 units, down 23.12 percent from 55,485 units in October last year.
In the ten months to October, Astra sold 428,027 units of cars, down 30.31 percent from 614,169 units in the same period last year. Astra’s market shares reached 51.70 percent in October, little changed from 51.08 percent in previous month, down from 54 percent in August.
While non-Astra car sales in the ten months period reached 424,981 units, compared to 593,850 units in the same period last year, or 28.44 percent lower.
Astra’s top selling cars in October was Toyota brands amounting to 29,928 units, followed by Daihatsu 13,999 units and Izuzu at 1,674 units. In the ten months period, Toyota sold 271,073 units of cars, Daihasu 140,723 units and Izuzu 15,858 units.
The top selling non-Astra cars in October were Honda at 14,609 units, compared to 14,896 units in the same month last year, Suzuki at 9,405 units, dropped from 15,159 units a year earlier, Mitsubishi at 9,835 units compared to 11,785 units in the same month last year and Nissan 1,439 units compared to 2,951 units.
On Monthly basis, the highest industry car sales was recorded in January at 50,424 units and the lowest was recorded in July, amounted at 32,505 units. Astra recorded highest car sales in in March totaling 49,951 units and the lowest was recorded in July at only 23,110 units, due to lower working days.
Astra car sales picked up to 48,949 units in August, partly due to two major automotive exhibitions, but trending lower again to 47,526 units in September and 45,668 units in October.
The Indonesian Automotive Association (Gaikindo) has earlier revised down its car sales for full year to 1,000,000 units this year, after earlier projected the same car sales volume with last year. Given the ten months car sales, the revised target is likely within reached. In 2014, total car sales reached 1.2 million units.
Sudirman M.R., the chairman of Gaikindo sees car sales in 2016 are likely to remain flat as consumer power flags to around 950,000 units. (*)