Jakarta. Krama Yudha Tiga Berlian Motors, Mitsubishi's distributor in Indonesia, is targeting a 4 percent growth in sales this year on the back of better economic conditions and possibly lower lending rates, an executive said.

Sales head Imam Choeru Cahya said the company booked a 12 percent drop in sales to 77,000 units last year, from 88,000 in 2014.

"We dare to set a high target of 80,000 units [now] because the economy is getting better. [...] The All New Pajero Sport will become our featured product this year," Imam said.

The company launched that particular SUV in January. Up to 5,000 of those cars have been pre-ordered as of March 2016. The company wants to sell at least 19,000 All New Pajero Sport cars this year, it says.

Mitsubishi, which controls 27 percent of the passenger car market and 21 percent of the business car market in Indonesia, was not alone to experience disappointing sales numbers. The local automotive sector dropped 14 percent last year due to the depreciation of the rupiah against the dollar and the economy expanding a mere 5 percent — slow by Indonesian standards in recent years.

The Indonesia Automotive Industry Association (Gaikindo) expects automotive sales to grow 5 percent this year. The association said that 1.05 million to 1.1 million cars will be sold this year, up from 1.01 million in 2015.