Indonesia 2007: A Flourishing Market for Toyota

Indonesia is not the rich Asian economic giant anymore as it was even 11 years ago. However, the country is not doing badly in the world stage and the auto market is having a healthy growth in Indonesia. Toyota wants to remain as the market leader in Indonesian auto market.

Reuters reported:

Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research) expects Indonesia's domestic vehicle sales to grow by 10-20 percent this year and aims to hold more than 34 percent of the domestic market, its local unit said.

An increase at the top end of that range would give sales of around 380,000 units, still well below a historical high of 533,910 in 2005.

PT Toyota Astra Motor, the distributor for Toyota vehicles in the world's fourth most populous nation, accounted for 38.8 percent of new vehicles sales in 2006, up from 34.2 percent in 2005, as domestic sales shrank by 40 percent.

"Toyota Astra Motor predicts that the total market will increase by 10-20 percent compared to 2006 sales achievement. Toyota aims to maintain market leader position with more than 34 percent in 2007," the firm said in a presentation to the media late on Monday.

Toyota is the number 2 auto maker in the world. If it wants to be the number one then it should focus more on Asia. After all, Asia is the place where the growth is.