Jakarta. Japanese auto giant Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) has recently announced that Indonesia became its largest market by country in the first quarter of fiscal year 2021 thanks to government’s fiscal incentives related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mitsubishi sold 26,397 units in Indonesia during the company’s first quarter period from April to June 2021, representing an 11.5 percent share of its global sales, according to local subsidiary 
Mitsubishi Motors Krama Yudha Sales Indonesia (MMKSI).

Indonesian sales are dominated by seven-seater X-pander which accounts for 49 percent, followed by SUV model Pajero Sport (20 percent) and small pickup L-300 (23 percent). 

The X-pander enjoyed Indonesian government’s luxury tax exemptions issued during the pandemic to help the country’s automotive industry stay afloat amid sluggish global demand, according to MMC’s first-quarter financial results seen by The Jakarta Globe.

As a result, Indonesia makes up 54 percent of global X-pander sales in the period.

“This positive achievement encourages MMKSI to continue delivering the best products and services to consumers in the whole process of vehicle ownership,” Naoya Nakamura, President Director of MMKSI, said in a statement.

The Finance Ministry exempted the luxury sales tax for three months from March 1, in a move to increase car sales and help the country add 0.9 to 1 percentage point to its economic growth rate this year. 

Indonesia is also the largest market for Pajero Sport, accounting for 38 percent of global sales volume of the model and 50 percent in Indonesia’s SUV market share due to “successful model change”, according to the report.

Mitsubishi's Indonesian plants began to produce X-pander and Pajero Sport in 2017.

The financial reports said Mitsubishi global sales volume stood at 230,000 units in the first quarter, a 91 percent increase on sales volume in the same period of the 2020 fiscal year.

Net sales soared by 202 percent to 431.9 billion yen year-on-year, according to the financial results.

In the ASEAN, Indonesia has now surpassed Thailand where Mitsubishi sold around 11,000 cars in the April-June period.

Car sales volume in Indonesia has picked up growth in the first half of the year, totaling 387,873 units or 33.5 percent higher from the same period last year, according to data from the Indonesian Automotive Manufacturers Association (Gaikindo).

Toyota remains a dominant market leader in Southeast Asia’s biggest country with a sales volume of 120,717 or 31.1 percent of the market share.

Sister company Daihatsu is ranked second with 17.3 percent, followed by Honda (12.7 percent), Mitsubishi (12.3 percent) and Suzuki (10.6%).