REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The country's largest car maker PT Astra Internasional expresses doubt that sales of automotive products would increase in 2016.
Car and motorcycle sales would not increase under the economic slowdown, Astra's investor relation officer Ira Ardianti said here on Monday night.
Sales of both two and four wheeled motor vehicles have been flat in the past five months, Ira cited.
The people's purchasing power is still weak and have no fund to spare for luxury, she said.
Sales of motorcycles dropped in the regions mainly because of the commodity price fall such as palm oil and rubber prices, she said.
In the first quarter of 2016 , Astra's car sales dropped to 127,000 units from 137,000 units in the same period last year.
In April and May , Astra's sales of cars totaled 31,000 units and 33,000 units respectively.
Its sales of motorcycles also shrank to 1.1 million units in the first quarter of 2016. In April and May sales were recorded at 348,000 units and 338,000 units respectively.
"We could not make prediction , but hopefully the economy would improve and the people's purchasing power would be stronger," she said.
The Indonesian Automotive Industry Association (Gaikindo), however, said car sales in Indonesia (from factories to dealers) surged 11 percent to 87,919 units in May 2016, the second straight month of rising car sales year-on-year.
Gaikindo chairman Jongkie Sugiarto attributed the increase mainly to delivery of new models ahead of Idul Fitri holiday.
In April car sales in Indonesia grew 4.6 percent to 84,703 units from 81,000 units in the same month last year.
This is encouraging after being on the decline for 16 straight months previously.
Stakeholders in the automotive industry hope that this is the start of a rebound, in line with accelerating economic growth.
In the first quarter of 2016 Indonesia's economic growth accelerated to a growth pace of 4.92 percent yoy), higher than the 4.73 percent GDP growth pace in the same quarter last year.
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