Loman cited Indonesia's accelerating economic growth, strengthening commodity prices, and the impact of government-led infrastructure development as key reasons for growth of motorcycle sales in Indonesia at the start of the year. Regarding full-year 2018, he expects Indonesia's motorcycle sales to rise by about 5 percent (y/y) to 5.9 - 6.1 million units.

In full-year 2017 a total of 5.8 million motorcycles were sold in Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy. This was a 1.6 percent decline compared to motorcycle sales in the preceding year, hence reflecting bleak purchasing power. Motorcycle and car sales form good indicators to measure the state of a nation's purchasing power and consumer confidence because when consumers' income and confidence rise then they are more inclined to purchase a car or motorcycle.

Indonesia's January Motorcycle Sales (including exports):

  2014
January
  2015
January
  2016
January
  2017
January
  2018
January
Motorcycles
(units)
580,288 513,816 443,449 502,285 520,558

Sources: AISI

Domestic Motorcycle Sales Indonesia 2012-2017:

    2012     2013     2014     2015     2016     2017
Motorcycles
(units)
7,064,457 7,743,879 7,867,195 6,480,155 5,931,285 5,886,103

Sources: AISI & Astra International

Motorcycle Sales in Indonesia:

Brand     2016     2017 Market Share
Honda 4,380,888 4,385,888       74.5%
Kawasaki   97,622   78,637        1.3%
Suzuki   56,824   72,191        1.2%
TVS    1,873    1,176        0.0%
Yamaha 1,394,078 1,348,211       22.9%
Total 5,931,285 5,886,103      100.0%

Source: AISI

Car sales in Indonesia, however, showed a much better figure in the first month of 2018. Earlier this week the Association of Indonesian Automotive Industries (Gaikindo) announced that Indonesia's car sales rose 11.1 percent (y/y) to 95,892 vehicles (wholesale) in January 2018, supported by Indonesia's improving macroeconomic conditions (with accelerating economic growth) and the various new car models that were launched on the Indonesian market in recent months.

Back to motorcycles sales in January 2018; Honda remained the market leader with 345,957 sold units on the domestic market, followed by Yamaha (122,981), Kawasaki (7,509), Suzuki (6,051), and TVS (31).

Meanwhile, Indonesia's motorcycle exports surged 33.8 percent (y/y) to 38,021 units (completely built up) in January 2018. This robust growth came on the back of repeat orders in various nations. This signals that Indonesian motorcycles are regarded competitively priced as well as reliable in these nations.

Motorcycle Exports Indonesia - January 2018:

Brand Jan.
2017
Jan.
2018
Yamaha 16,620 23,030
Honda  8,178  6,281
Suzuki  1,131  4,445
TVS  2,197  3,328
Kawasaki   280   937
Total Exports 28,406 38,021

Source: AISI

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