New car sales in Indonesia rose 61% year-on-year in the first three months of 2008 despite higher prices, the Bisnis Indonesia reported.


Car sales during January to March rose to 135,387 units from 84,337 units in the same period a year earlier, the paper said, citing data from the association of local automotive assemblers, Gaikindo.


Domestic consumers in Indonesia have responded strongly to the sharp cuts in interest rates back to the more benign levels of around 8%, from a high of 12.5% at the end of 2005.