These figures confirm the dominant position of Japanese car manufacturers in Indonesia's automotive industry. Not surprisingly Indonesia is often called "the backyard of Japanese car-makers" and this also makes it tough for European and US car brands. Although they are attracted by the promising perspectives of Indonesia's automotive market (big population, rising per capita GDP, yet still low per capita car ownership), they face serious difficulty to gain market share. That is the reason why several western car brands have closed their factories in Indonesia over the past couple of years (for example American car-maker Ford Motor Company).

With 36.5 percent, Toyota controls the largest market share in Indonesia, followed by Daihatsu (17.6 percent). Both brands are distributed on the Indonesian market by Astra International through its subsidiaries Toyota Astra Motor (TAM) and Astra Daihatsu Motor (ADM). Astra International is one of Indonesia's largest diversified conglomerates as well as a blue chip stock on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (hence a favorite of domestic and foreign investors). However, due to the slowdown in Indonesian car sales over the past couple of years, Astra International's market capitalization on the Indonesia Stock Exchange has somewhat diminished.

Car sales figures in Indonesia rebounded slightly in 2016, and this trend is expected to continue this year. In the first six months of 2017 a total of 533,903 car units were sold in Indonesia, a modest 0.33 percent growth compared to sales in the same period one year ago. Sales in June 2017 were particularly weak due to the Ramadan month and Idul Fitri celebrations. These festivities fell earlier in 2017 compared to 2016 and therefore somewhat distorted the data. By the year-end we still expect Indonesian car sales growth in the range of 1-5 percent (y/y).

Read more: Analysis & Overview of Indonesia's Automotive Industry

It is also interesting to note that there are six registered brands that did not record any sales in Indonesia furing the first half of 2017: Chrysler, Ford, Geely, Infiniti, Jaguar, and Smart.

Indonesian Car Sales (CBU):

Month Sold Cars
   2013
Sold Cars
   2014
Sold Cars
   2015
Sold Cars
   2016
Sold Cars
   2017
January   96,718  103,609   94,194   85,002   86,324
February  103,278  111,824   88,740   88,208   95,159
March   95,996  113,067   99,410   94,092  102,336
April  102,257  106,124   81,600   84,770   89,623
May   99,697   96,872   79,375   88,567   94,091
June  104,268  110,614   82,172   91,488   66,370
July  112,178   91,334   55,615   61,891
August   77,964   96,652   90,537   96,282
September  115,974  102,572   93,038   92,541
October  112,039  105,222   88,408   92,106
November  111,841   91,327   86,938  100,365
December   97,706   78,802   73,264   86,547
Total 1,229,916
1,208,019 1,013,291 1,061,859

 

     2011     2012     2013     2014     2015     2016
Car Sales
(car units)
 894,164 1,116,230
1,229,916 1,208,019 1,013,291 1,061,859
Car Production
(car units)
    n.a.      n.a. 1,208,211 1,298,532 1,098,780 1,177,797

Source: Gaikindo

Indonesian Car Sales by Brand - 1st Half 2017:

Brand Sales
Toyota 195.288
Daihatsu  94.287
Honda  93.262
Mitsubishi  53.034
Suzuki  51.764
HINO  12.828
Nissan   9.146
Isuzu   8.167
Datsun   4.759
Mercedes-Benz   2.098
Chevrolet   1.809
Mazda   1.593
UD Trucks   1.286
BMW   1.180
Lexus    724
Scania    611
Hyundai    571
KIA    543
Tata    490
VW    231
MINI    236
Renault    209

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