Car sales are an important indicator to measure the condition of a local economy as these sales provide valuable information about people's consumer confidence and purchasing power. Generally, declining car sales and declining economic growth go hand in hand. Indonesians' purchasing power is also curbed by the country's high inflation rate. Over the past two years, Indonesian inflation has been high due to subsidized fuel price reforms as well as imported inflation due to the weak rupiah. In September 2015 inflation stood at 6.83 percent (y/y), down from 7.18 percent (y/y) in the preceding month. Toward the year-end, inflation is expected to ease more markedly (to between 4 - 5 percent) as the impact of the November 2014 subsidized fuel price hike wanes.

Economic Growth and Car Sales Statistics Indonesia:

    2007   2008   2009   2010   2011   2012   2013   2014   2015¹
GDP²
(in billion USD)
 432.2  510.2  539.6  755.1  893.0  917.9  910.5  888.5
GDP²
(annual % change)
   6.3    6.0    4.6    6.2    6.2    6.0    5.6    5.0    4.8
GDP per Capita²
(in USD)
 1,861  2,168  2,263  3,125  3,648  3,701  3,624  3,492
Car Sales
(in million units)
  0.61   0.49   0.76   0.89   1.12   1.23   1.21   0.98

¹ indicates a forecast
² the base year for computing the economic growth rate shifted from 2000 to 2010 in 2014, previous years have been recalculated
Sources: World Bank & Gaikindo

In the first nine months of 2015, Indonesian car sales stand at a total of 764,119 units, down 18.1 percent from cars sold in the same period last year (932,458 vehicles).

Despite the slowdown, Deputy Chairman of Gaikindo Jongkie Sugiarto was pleased to see the nation's September car sales and hopes to see solid sales in the remainder of the year. However, Gaikindo has already cut its forecast for 2015 car sales twice, from an initial 1.2 million to 1.1 million, and then to the range of 950,000 - 1,000,000 cars.

Indonesian Car Sales (CBU):

 Month    Sold Cars 2012    Sold Cars 2013    Sold Cars 2014    Sold Cars 2015
 January           76,427           96,718          103,609           94,194
 February           86,486          103,278          111,824           88,740
 March           87,917           95,996          113,067           99,408
 April           87,144          102,257          106,124           81,600
 May           95,541           99,697           96,872           79,375
 June          101,746          104,268          110,614           82,171
 July          102,511          112,178           91,334           55,618
 August           76,445           77,964           96,652           90,077
 September          102,100          115,974          102,572           92,478
 October          106,754          112,039          105,222
 November          103,703          111,841           91,327
 December           89,456           97,706           78,802
 Total         1,116,230
        1,229,916
        1,208,019          764,119

Source: Gaikindo

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