Indonesia Sets SE Asia Sales Pace as Thailand Reels

TOKYO – Southeast Asian automakers had mixed results in the first half of 2014, with Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam generally up and Thailand and Taiwan down.

Assemblies in Indonesia totaled 674,364 vehicles between January and June, up 14.9% year-on-year. Included were 404,099 vehicles with 2-wheel drive (down 5.3%); 144,484 pickup trucks (up 1.9%); 18,960 sedans (up 604.0%); 11,802 units with 4-wheel drive (down 7.1%); and 2,930 buses (up 6.5%).

Sales of so-called “affordable-energy” cars, which kicked off in 2013, totaled 92,089 units. The program requires that cars, both diesel and gasoline, be able to achieve 47 mpg (5.0 L/100 km) and be priced under 95 million rupiah ($8,204).

Vehicle sales through June rose to a record 641,511 units, up 6.2% from the first six months of 2013. The Indonesian Automotive Industry Assn. (Gaikindo) is forecasting sales of 1.25 million units for the full year in 2014.

The association is projecting exports of 200,000 units, up from 170,907 in 2013.

Malaysian automakers produced 317,892 vehicles in the first six months of 2014, ahead of last year's record pace by 5.7%, according to Malaysian Automotive Assn. statistics. The total includes 291,810 cars and 26,082 commercial vehicles.

During the same period, domestic sales rose to 333,142 units, up 2.6% year-over-year and on track to achieve a new high.

Included in the total were 296,779 cars and 36,363 commercial vehicles. The CV total includes standard trucks, pickup trucks, panel vans, prime movers and buses.

In the Philippines, the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines (Campi) raised its 2014 sales forecast in early July to 250,000 units. The chamber originally predicted 230,000 deliveries.

Campi is sticking to its prediction that sales will double by 2020, to 500,000 units.

Import sales during the first half of 2014 rose 16% year-on-year to 17,902 units.

Auto sales in Thailand totaled 440,911 between January and June, down 40.5% from 739,046 in like-2013. Average monthly declines ranged from 30.4% to 46.7%.

Reflecting the downturn in domestic demand, production tumbled 28.9% during the period to 952,685 units. Exports, though up year-on-year, rose only 3.6% to 560,047 units bolstered by increased demand in Europe and North America.

The Federation of Thai Industries reportedly has lowered its production 2014 production forecast to 2.2 million units from 2.4 million earlier, thus 10.5% below 2013 levels.

Months of political turmoil capped by a military coup in May fueled the sales decline, as did the delayed effects of the termination of the government's first-time-buyer incentives at the end of 2012. Industry observers expect the market to stabilize over the course of the year.

In 2013, Thailand reported production and sales of 2,457,057 and 1,330,672 units, respectively.

Auto sales in Vietnam rose 27.5% to 54,986 units during first-half 2014, according to MarkLines.com, with Toyota grabbing a market-leading 30.3% share. That put the country on pace to exceed the 96,692 deliveries posted in full-year 2013.

Taiwan auto sales through May fell 13.3% to 170,364 units, according to Focus2move.com. June sales reportedly jumped 23.4% to 40,189 units, bringing the 6-month total to 210,553. Toyota was the market leader through May with a 28.7% share.