New vehicle sales in Indonesia rebounded strong in July, with sales jumping by close to 26% to 107,431 units from 85,354 units in the same month of last year, according to wholesale data compiled by industry association Gaikindo.
The strong rebound was due mainly to seasonal factors, with a full month of economic activity in July coming after the country virtually shut down for half of June for the annual Idul Fitri holidays. These holidays last year fell in July.
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The outlook for demand remains uncertain in the second half of the year, however. Economic activity picked up a little in the second quarter, with year on year GDP growth of just under 5.3% from 5.1% in the first quarter.
But if the central bank continues its policy of raising interest rates, after hikes totaling 125 basis points to 5.5% in the last four months in support of the rupiah, domestic consumption growth is likely to slow.
In the first seven months of the year, the vehicle market was up by 6.8% at 661,093 units from 618,860 units in the same period of last year. Of these, 506,097 were passenger vehicles and 154,996 were trucks and buses.
Toyota's sales over the seven-month period declined by 13.4% to 196,430 units, mainly reflecting rising competition in the MPV segment, while Daihatsu was steady in second place with sales rising by 3.7% to 112,893 units.
Mitsubishi Motors' sales, excluding Fuso, jumped by 127% to 87,457 units in the seven-month period following the introduction of the Xpander compact MPV last year. Honda's sales were down by 13.2% at 91,920 units while Suzuki posted a 15.4% rise to 71,433 units.
