Jakarta – Motorcycle sales in Indonesia dropped 1.6 percent in September compared to the same month a year ago, ending a two-month run of sale increases. The drop is nevertheless unlikely to derail manufacturers' sales target for this year.

According to the Indonesian Motorcycle Industry Association (AISI), 546,607 motorcycles were sold last month, compared to 555,820 in September last year.

This brought total sales of motorcycles in the country for the first nine months of this year to 4,340,252 units, down 0.2 percent from 4,351,397 units within the same period last year.

Sigit Kumala, AISI's deputy chairman for commercial affairs, said the September sales figure was still in line with the association's estimation.

Sigit said the "momentum to boost sales is narrowing," but remained optimistic manufacturers can sell at least 500,000 motorcycles each month until the end of this year.

He said unfavorable government policies released in the first half of 2017 – including fuel price and electricity fee increases as well as higher fees for vehicle permit and license (STNK and BPKB) – made many reconsider their plan to buy a motorcycle.

"We hope there will be no more of these [unfavorable] policies, since they will decrease purchasing power even further. In the first semester, consumers were shocked and held off on motorcycle purchases," Sigit said.

AISI targets motorcycle sales to reach 5.75 million units by December, down 3 percent from 5.9 million units last year.

Honda still dominates Indonesia's motorcycle market by the end of September, with sales of 3.2 million units and a market share of 74.5 percent. Yamaha is in second place with 983,483 units, followed by Kawasaki (60,252 units), Suzuki (59,104 units) and TVS (935 units).

On the brighter side, export of motorcycles keeps increasing, with 309,325 units shipped by the end of last month – a 36 percent increase from 228,229 units within the same period last year.

Sigit said Indonesia's large domestic market continues to allow manufacturers to mass-produce scooters.

"So, even if the destination country [for export] produces them too, our prices are still cheaper. We just need maintain the quality of our products, and the competitive price, to ensure repeat orders," he said.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.id/business/motorcycle-sales-drop-september-manufacturers-remain-upbeat/