Indonesia's April car sales plunge 91% as virus curbs hit economy (updated)
15/05/2020 11:47
* 7,871 cars sold in April, vs 84,056 in same month previous
year
* Auto association sees sales almost halving in 2020
(Adds association's comments, details)
JAKARTA, May 15 (Reuters) - Indonesia's April car sales
plunged 90.6% from a year earlier due to measures to contain the
spread of the novel coronavirus,
the country's largest auto distributor Astra International said
on Friday, citing industry association data.
A total of 7,871 cars were sold in April, down from 84,056
units sold in the same month last year. The drop accelerated
from 15% in March, the data showed.
Jongkie Sugiarto, an executive with industry association
Gaikindo, said the data represented wholesale sales from
manufacturers to dealers.
Dealers still managed to sell some 24,000 vehicles to
consumers in April, despite large-scale social restrictions
imposed in some of Indonesia's biggest cities, he said, without
providing a comparison.
"I think manufacturers and dealers, everyone is facing
problems," Sugiarto said.
The association expects to see 600,000 units sold to the
domestic market this year, down from a pre-coronavirus pandemic
projection of 1.1 million, Sugiarto said.
Indonesia's industry ministry last month said total car
sales this year for both domestic and export markets was
expected to slump 50%. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2BW20O
Indonesia's car market is dominated by Japanese brands, with
Toyota 7203.T and Daihatsu 6023.T usually leading sales.
Based on breakdowns of April sales, they remained market
leaders, but were also among those suffering the biggest drop in
sales.
Astra International, which distributes both brands in
Indonesia, sold 2,093 Toyota cars in April, compared with nearly
30,000 in the same month last year. April sales of Daihatsu were
1,330 units, versus more than 16,000 in the same month in 2019.
Astra did not respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Gayatri Suroyo, Fransiska Nangoy and Nilufar
Rizki; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
((Fransiska.Nangoy@thomsonreuters.com; +62 21 2992 7610;
Reuters Messaging:
fransiska.nangoy.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))