APSN | Mercedes-Benz sales up 20% as Indonesian economy sags

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Mercedes-Benz sales up 20% as Indonesian economy sags

Jakarta Globe - August 17, 2015

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Tackling yawning income gap in Indonesia – Jakarta Post. April 10, 2014

Jakarta – As the Indonesian automotive industry keeps lowering sales targets, the premium market segment seems to be avoiding much of the pain caused by a slowing economy, as Mercedes-Benz is reporting a 20 percent sales uptick.

The German automaker reported that it sold 1,800 cars during the January-July period this year, compared to 1,500 cars in the same period last year.

"The economic crisis that's happening at the moment seems to be impacting the premium segment less than the non-premium segment," Donald Rahmat, deputy director of passenger car sales at Mercedes-Benz Indonesia, said this weekend.

According to Donald, Mercedes-Benz now also controls a larger segment of the premium car market: 49 percent as opposed to 38 percent in the same period last year.

Just days ago, the Indonesian automotive manufacturers' association (Gaikindo) cut its domestic car sales target for 2015 for the second time this year, citing weak commodity prices that have undermined demand in regions dependent on resource exports.

Gaikindo said it expected full-year sales to fall in the range of 950,000 to 1 million cars. In April, Gaikindo revised its sales target from the initial 1.2 million to 1.1 million cars, reflecting slowing household demand that is dragging on the country's economy.

"We must be realistic in looking at sales from January to July, which only reached 581,000 cars," Gaikindo chairman Sudirman M.R. said on Wednesday.

In June, Astra International reported a 19.44-percent drop in sales in the first five months of this year because of a slowdown in consumer demand.

Astra, Indonesia's biggest vehicle distributor, said in the June statement that car sales declined to 223,016 units in the January to May period, compared to 276,839 units in the same period last year.

The decline caused Astra's market share to fall to 50 percent, from 52 percent previously.

The company said the decline affected all four of the car brands it sells in Indonesia: Toyota, Daihatsu, Isuzu and Peugeot, but Toyota and Isuzu were hit hardest.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/business/mercedes-benz-sales-20-indonesian-economy-sags/.