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Two new models launched as luxury car market rebounds
Two luxury car manufacturers, BMW and Jaguar, launched new models in Jakarta on Thursday, targeting an ambitious sales growth in the hope the country’s economy will continue on its trajectory of rapid expansion
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wo luxury car manufacturers, BMW and Jaguar, launched new models in Jakarta on Thursday, targeting an ambitious sales growth in the hope the country’s economy will continue on its trajectory of rapid expansion.
The wholly owned subsidiary of Munich-based Bayerische Motoren Werke, PT BMW Indonesia, launched its latest BMW 5 series lineup, comprising 523i, 528i and 535i models, which feature a new 8-speed automatic transmission.
The off-the-road prices for the cars range from Rp 818 million (US$89,200) to Rp 1.19 billion. The new 528i costs around $45,000 in the United States.
BMW director of corporate communications Helena Abidin said the company was targeting to sell more than 1,000 cars, and would launch 10 new models in that period.
At the end of May, BMW had sold 424 units in the country, up 42 percent from the same period last year.
BMW’s total sales in 2009 reached 901 units, of which 539 were BMW 3 series cars, 208 were 5 series models, 50 were 7 series models and 63 were BMW X models.
“With the new models coming up this year, we will have even stronger sales in the second half of the year,” said president director Ramesh Divyanathan.
The sole local distributor of Jaguar, PT Grandauto Dinamika (GD), which launched a completely new Jaguar XJ on Thursday, targets a 100 percent increase in sales this year to 70 units from 35 units sold last year. Jaguar is owned by Tata Motors of India
GD is offering two models, the Jaguar XF, which costs from Rp 1.25 billion to Rp 1.35 billion on the road in Jakarta, and the new Jaguar XJ, which costs Rp 2.85 billion on the road.
“We are targeting to sell 50 Jaguar XFs and 20 Jaguar XJs this year,” GD chief operating officer Darwin Maspolim said.
Jaguar fanatics have already ordered 10 Jaguar XJs, or half of the company’s target, so far this year, he said. Darwin said Indonesia had a unique consumer characteristic, especially in the premium car segment. He said the best selling Jaguars were the ones with the highest specifications.
On Wednesday, Mercedes-Benz Indonesia launched the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. The company estimated car sales this year to increase 30 percent to 54,000 units from last year.
Mercedes plans to dominate the market with 68 to 70 percent of total sales, comprising 3,500 to 3,700 units sold by the end of the year. (not)
