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T Astra Honda Motor (AHM), a joint venture between the country’s major diversified group PT Astra International and the world’s largest motorcycle producer Japan-based Honda Motor Co., says its motorcycle sales rose by 7.5 percent to 1.06 million during the first quarter of this year, allowing it to maintain its dominant position in the country’s motorcycle market.

“The growth recorded by Honda is higher than the trend of total domestic sales, which declined [during the period],” deputy sales manager Thomas Wijaya said in a statement.

Sales of motorcycles, a key indicator of consumption in Southeast Asia’s top economy, declined by 2.7 percent to 1.93 million during the period ending March 30, compared to 1.99 million during the same period a year earlier, according to the recently-issued statistics from the Indonesian Motorcycle Industry Association (AISI).

With the sales figure, Honda held a 55.1 percent share in the world’s third-largest two-wheeler market, followed by its tight competitor Yamaha, which controlled a 36.7 percent share by selling 709,388 units.

The association had earlier been upbeat that, driven by stable domestic demand, annual motorcycle sales might grow by around 10 percent to 9 million units this year despite a worsening global economic outlook. The optimism is based on the country’s strong economic fundamentals that helped the economy grow 6.5 percent in the past year amid worldwide economic turmoil.

Thomas said that the surge in Honda sales during the first three months was highly driven by sales of its scooter models — particularly Honda BeAT and Honda Vario — which amounted to 649,794 units. Sales of Honda BeAT, for example, grew by 32 percent to 314,263 units during the quarter.

Scooters have been considered the firm’s future growth engine, with up to 57 percent shares in its total sales anticipated in the next few years. AHM sold around 2.3 million scooters last year; a 53.9 percent contribution to its overall sales of 4.27 million.

During the January-March period, Honda launched various models, including the new series of its scooters, Honda Vario, Honda BeAT and Honda Scoopy, in a bid to push a sales increase of 7.7 percent last year to 12.4 percent.

Due to prospective scooter sales, AHM — in which Astra International and Honda Motor control 50 percent each — has decided to build its fourth plant during the first half of this year, which will be able to produce 1.1 million scooters. The plant, located in Karawang, West Java, will require an estimated Rp 3.1 trillion (US$340 million) investment and is set to commence operations in the second half of 2013.