Indonesia to miss auto sales target by 30,000 vehicles: Expert

The Association of Indonesian Automotive Manufacturers (Gaikindo) says the automobile sales for 2011 would decline by 30,000 units from its original target of between 780,000 and 800,000 vehicles, as a result of the disasters that hit Japan recently.

Japan, one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of automobiles, was hit by an earthquake and tsunami in March, which caused widespread destruction and loss of life in areas on its eastern coastline, and impacted on the country’s industrial output.

“In my opinion, the highest level we will see this year will be between 750,000 and 800,000 vehicles,” Gaikindo deputy chairman Johnny Darmawan said Wednesday.

If the disasters had not occurred the sales figure would have surpassed the original target, given the strong performance of the Indonesian automobile market in the first quarter of 2011, Johnny said, with up to 225,000 vehicles were sold during this period.

In April, automobile sales reached approximately 61,000 units, a figure expected to increase to 65,000 units in May, he said.

“After that, the monthly average is expected to stabilize at 65,000 units per month,” he said, as reported by kompas.com.