T

he Indonesian unit of Japan'€™s Toyota Motor booked a sharp increase in exports in the first quarter thanks partly to an increase in demand for its sedan Vios from Middle Eastern countries.

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indonesia (TMMIN) said that the shipment of vehicles in the form of completely-built unit (CBU) rose by 30.3 percent, far higher than the initial target, to 44,000 units from January to March.

Exports to the Middle East, including to key buyers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), surged by 30 percent, said I Made Dana Tangkas, the company'€™s corporation and external relations director at TMMIN.

The Middle East is the company'€™s main export destination, accounting for about 70 percent of its overall exports.

'€œWith the good first quarter result, we are optimistic the trend may continue in the second quarter,'€ he said, adding that despite the achievement, the firm maintained its target of a 10 percent rise in full-year exports.

The higher growth in shipments was attributable in large part to a jump in demand for the car-maker'€™s sedan Vios, which it began to deliver to seven Middle Eastern countries, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, in March last year. Sales of Vios tripled to 10,247 units in the first quarter from the previous year.

Exports of its biggest contributor to exports, sports utility vehicle (SUV) Fortuner, also surged by 14.7 percent to 13,763 units.

Another favorite model, multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) Kijang Innova, however, saw modest gains of 2.6 percent to 3,934 units. Shipment of a newcomer to its export portfolio, the low-cost green car Agya, which the firm began exporting to the Philippines, rose considerably by 84.18 percent to 2,993 units.

The significant achievement in quarterly exports provides leverage for TMMIN, a joint venture between Japan'€™s biggest automaker Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) and publicly-listed diversified group Astra International, after its domestic sales through Toyota'€™s sales and marketing arm, Toyota Astra Motor (TAM), dwindled over the period.

TAM'€™s sales plunged by 24.49 percent to 85,828 units in the initial quarter of this year, much higher than the 14.05 percent shrink in national car sales to 282,345 units.

Exports make up nearly half of TMMIN'€™s total output at present. Made further said that his firm was studying the possibility of selling new models overseas and at the same time develop new foreign markets, which at present were dependent on the Middle East.

Future potential, he added, might lie in the Southeast Asian CMLV countries: Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, which as a combined market equals Indonesia'€™s domestic market of 250 million people.

'€œIt'€™s a potential market to explore. We can still rely on MPVs and small sedans there,'€ Made said.

TMMIN now operates four plants in Sunter, North Jakarta, and Karawang, West Java, producing engines and cars with respective production capacities of 195,000 units and 250,000 vehicles each year.

Unlike the sales of CBUs, exports of completely-knocked-down units gained only slightly by 1.67 percent to 9,740 units, while shipment of engines dropped by 10.96 percent to 11,118 units.