Indonesia auto sales plunge 96% in May, Astra sees June rebound

Car sales in Indonesia plunged 95.8% in May from a year earlier to 3,551 units, industry association data cited by the country's largest auto distributor PT Astra International showed on Monday.

May sales were also less than half the 7,868 units sold in April when sales were down 90.6% from a year earlier due to movement curbs imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Indonesia's car market is dominated by Japanese brands, with Toyota and Daihatsu usually leading sales, but Mitsubishi and Suzuki led in May.

But Astra, which controls about half of the Indonesian car market, saw signs of an improvement in June after selling only 1,102 cars domestically in May, down 97.6% from a year earlier.

"In June, we've seen some pretty good movement, an increase compared with movement in May," said Djony Bunarto Tjondro, who was appointed as new president direct at the annual shareholders' meeting on Tuesday.

Astra sold 134,649 cars domestically in January-May, down 40.6% from a year earlier.