Car sales ready to go up

JAKARTA. National automotive industry is more optimistic about the prospect in 2017 compared with 2016. The car producers predict that the car sales in the next year can hit more than one million units, or higher that the realization of sales in this year.

PT Toyota Astra Motor even predicts that car sales next year could hit 1.125 million units, up 7% from the projected national automotive sales this year that are predicted to only 1.05 million units.

Executive General Manager of PT Toyota Astra Motor (TAM) Franciscus Soerjopranoto said that the target could be achieved if the political situation in the country is stable, especially if the concurrent local elections, which will take place on 15 February 2017, runs smoothly.

If the political situation is stable, "We are targeting to sell at least 360,000 units of cars with the market shares of around 35%," said Franciscus. (11/11). However, the pessimistic scenario, the sales can be trimmed down to just 936,000 units.

Astra Daihatsu Motor projection is slightly lower. Director of Manufacturing atAstra Daihatsu Motor Pongky Prabowo said, the next year's sales could reach 1.1 million units, a slight increase of 4% from 2016.

Director of Marketing and Sales of PT Honda Prospect Motor Jonfis Fandy said that the Indonesian Automotive Industry Association (Gaikindo) has yet to formally issue four-wheeled automotive sales projections for the next year.

However, based on the current sales trends, he believes that the sales will be greater in the next year. "We estimated that it could rise by 10% to 20%," said Jonfis, Friday (18/11). Has not set a target in 2017, Honda prefers to pursue the target of sales of 180,000 units for this year. As of September 2016, Honda had sold 151,849 units of car, with a market share of 19.4%.

PT Isuzu Astra Motor Indonesia targets to reap a sales increase of about 5% next year. The new product at the segment of light vehicle commercial, which will be released in the second semester of 2017, will be a mainstay for the company’s sales. To date, Isuzu is pursuing the target of the sales of 11,706 units of cars by the end of this year.

Another producer, Nissan adopts the Japanes fiscal year, which runs during April-March. Therefore, General Manager Marketing Strategy and Communication Division PT Nissan Motor Indonesia Budi Nur Mukmin has not yet given comments about the sales target of Nissan in the next year.

Vice Chairman I of Gaikindo Jongkie D Sugiarto earlier had reminded that, on paper, the outlook for auto sales next year could be better than this year. The better domestic economy, the better sales will be.

According Jongkie, credit bolstered car sales up to 70%. The car sales may increase if the credit interest rate is stable.

However, aside of The Fed’s plan to rise its interest rate, the protection policies of the newly elected US president Donald Trump has led to unease in automotive industry.

To date, the car sales are affected by the stronger of the US dollar against rupiah. If the condition continues, the car price will increase. The price rise is expected to reduce the demand of car.

(Muhammad Farid/Translator)