Welcome Guest   |  Login   |   Signup
JG Logo
Thu, May 24, 2012
Archive Search

Indonesian Car Sales Booming Despite Global Economic Gloom
Faisal Maliki Baskoro | October 07, 2011

The automotive industry says a strong domestic economy has helped sales, but some worry scenes like this one in Jakarta will be increasingly common with more vehicles on the street. JG Photo/Jurnasyanto Sukarno The automotive industry says a strong domestic economy has helped sales, but some worry scenes like this one in Jakarta will be increasingly common with more vehicles on the street. JG Photo/Jurnasyanto Sukarno
Share This Page
0
15
0
8
Share with google+ :


Post a comment
Please login to post comment

Comments

jusdogin
7:27am Oct 9, 2011

mike

tahniah - ive hered it too at weddings so maybe its true


Valkyrie
5:53pm Oct 8, 2011

MikeOfAston,

I am quite familiar with Malaysian/Singapore Malays, but I have not heard this word "tahniah" being used. Perhaps you may be right, you know? I'll be heading for the little red dot very soon and I'll ask around. Reverting on this.

TRAFFIC SNARLS;

Why not? Have you seen the motorcade the president has? It probably consists of about a dozen vehicles stretching maybe 150-200 meters whenever on the move.

There's no other head of state that has this stupid motorcade. Oh another thing I often noticed. Whenever he makes a speech, people will convey his notes to him and even his pair of spectacles. I am not referring to the two military personnel who always stand behind him during these sessions.

Hmmm....his lordship demands?

MikeOfAston
4:25pm Oct 8, 2011

@Valkyrie - "...is there a word in Indonesian for congratulations? I often use the word "selamat" when in need". I've asked the same years ago, apparently the answer is none. The all-purpose "selamat" (good, pleasant as in "selamat pagi", good morning) is the closest but not the equivalent. As language reflects culture, this may be a cultural blindspot - giving and receiving compliments not prevalent among Indonesians? But strangely, there is an exact translation of "congratulations" in use by Singaporean and Malaysian Malays, it is "tahniah". I am no linguistic expert, this is as told to me, could be wrong.


dude05
2:50pm Oct 8, 2011

police will always give escort for politicians. what can be done can only be done by public with balls - Not to give any space when cops honk their siren with an expensive sedan behind them. Just ignore the whole thing and force the cops and politicians on road. From the recent observations, i found out that cops actually cause traffic jam by trying to catch drivers to get some bribe. which slows down the entire traffic dramatically. Then we have the blackberry and smoking obsession among braindead local drivers who cant keep their hands off these 2 items which maintain short attention span. That need to end.


devine
9:06am Oct 8, 2011

Maybe things would change if politicians would not be allowed anymore to have police escorts. Once they are all stuck in traffic they might realize that it is time to do something...

The domestic automotive industry is poised to break its sales targets for the year thanks to a robust economy that has been relatively unscathed by the ongoing global financial turmoil.

Car sales in the first nine months of the year rose 22 percent to 657,886 units from 540,600 units in the same period last year, according to data from the Association of Indonesia Automotive Industries (Gaikindo).

Motorcycle sales also climbed, rising 13 percent to 6.22 million units from 5.53 million units last year, according to data from the Indonesian Motorcycle Industry Association (AISI).

Jongkie Sugiarto, an official at Gaikindo, said car sales would likely surpass the full-year target of 850,000 units.

“As long as economic growth is maintained at above 5 percent, the central bank keeps its interest rate at 6.75 percent, the rupiah is allowed to strengthen and the government can maintain security, we are optimistic that we can pass the 850,000 unit mark,” he said.

Jongkie said there was plenty of money in the market to help consumers purchase cars. He said several financing companies were sitting on money and looking to help finance purchases, though he did not give names.

As much as 80 percent of an auto purchase can be financed with loans from multifinance companies. These companies are able to charge rates higher than the prime lending rates of banks, which typically charge around 11 percent.

Car sales last year reached 764,000 units. Industry officials have said they want to see sales of one million cars annually by 2013, a target Jongkie said could be achieved even sooner as automakers from Toyota to General Motors are expanding their production capacity here.

Joko Trisanyoto, the marketing director of Toyota Astra Motor, said the full-year sales total this year could hit 870,000 units, or even higher.

“We could have reached 900,000 units, but there was a supply chain problem when Japan was hit by the earthquake in March,” he said.

In April, Gaikindo revised down its sales target to 780,000 units from 800,000 in the aftermath of the Japan earthquake, which disrupted industry and the distribution of components.

But Japan recovered in June, earlier than analysts had estimated, providing a boost to car sales here.

Gunadi Sindhuwinata, chairman of AISI, also attributed the strong sales to robust domestic economic growth, which has given more people the power to purchase vehicles.

“Motorcycle sales are on track to reach the target of 8.3 million units this year, from 7.6 million units last year,” he said.

Rising car and motorcycle sales are often blamed for the worsening traffic in Jakarta, but Gunadi said the industry was not responsible.

“What’s happening in Jakarta is not traffic but chaos. This chaos could be solved if there was order on the streets, which is the job of the National Police,” he said.

He said the automotive industry was also hurt by traffic congestion either because it increased operational costs.