BMW Indonesia reports record sales growth in 2009

A not very good year for the country’s automotive sector failed to push the prestige premium BMW off the road, with a pristine performance last year, as BMW Indonesia posted a trend-defying 25 percent growth in sales.

In a year when automotive sales dropped overall by 20 percent on the year before, 901 premium BMWs found happy owners in 2009, as against 720 a year earlier.

“We are extremely happy with the achievement. Indonesia is one of a few markets in the world where volume continued to grow significantly in 2009 despite the global economic crisis,” BMW Indonesia president director Ramesh Divyanathan told a press gathering.

BMW reported sales of 42 luxurious 750Li and 740Li saloons, plus 50 sales for the BMW 7 Series representing a 163 percent growth in sales against the previous year, leading BMW’s overall performance in sales growth for any given model.

The sales of the BMW 5 Series  did well at 208  cars sold, or a growth of 41 percent and the BMW 3 Series booked sales of 539 cars, or a growth of 34 percent for that model.

In addition, the sales of previously-owned BMWs, known as the BMW Premium Selection by Bestindo Car Utama saw an increase of 35 percent with 202 cars.

As for 2010, Divyanathan predicted a double digit growth, barring any unforeseen events, with BMW Indonesia planning to introduce 10 new models, as well making strategic investments in brand building, the refurbishment of dealer showrooms and sales facilities, and human resource training.

The Indonesian Automotive Industry Association (Gaikindo) expects sales of luxury cars to hit the 4,300 to 4,500 mark in 2010, up from around 3,700 units in 2009.

“Our focus is sustainable long-term growth and increased customer satisfaction,” Divyanathan said.

“We will avoid any short-term push that will affect the image of our brand in exchange for volume.”

He said it was not BMW’s policy to sell its cars to taxi companies.

“Our customers have told us they do not want to see any BMW taxis,” he said on the sidelines of the exclusive gathering.

The 10 new models to be introduced in Indonesia will feature BMW EfficientDynamics technology that reduces fuel consumption and CO2 emissions while continuing to provide outstanding performance and driving pleasure as expected  for BMWs.

“Our commitment to environmental protection in Indonesia is to bring technology such as BMW EfficientDynamics to the whole model range rather than to introduce a single so-called green model, for example,” Divyanathan said.

“The quantity of CO2 emissions that we can reduce by introducing the technology across the whole fleet of our cars in Indonesia will be much higher than if we offered this only for limited niche models.”

BMW Indonesia also launched Wednesday the BMW X6 M at the BMW Studio in Plaza Indonesia, Central Jakarta.

The new BMW X6 M is priced at Rp 2.3 to Rp 2.7 billion depending on features and options.

First published on The Jakarta Post on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010