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New "environmentally friendly" cars are expected to take
center stage at the 15th Indonesian International Motor Show 2007,
which will be held in Jakarta from July 20 to 29.
"All the exhibitors have been asked to introduce their environmentally
friendly cars so as to fit in with the event's theme," Johnny
Dharmawan, the man in charge of the event, told a media briefing
Thursday.
The names of the "greenie" cars that will be on display during the
show, which will take "Green-Better Living" as its theme, were not
available, however.
Jaguar, VW, Daimler, Audi and Volvo are some of the top-of-the-range
carmakers that will be exhibiting during the country's premier motor
trade event.
However, as happened last year, Germany's BMW will not be taking part
in the show, which is organized by the Association of Indonesian
Automotive Manufacturers (Gaikindo).
"Many new models, such as new SUVs and MPVs, will be on show during the
event," Johnny said.
Also speaking during the media briefing, Gaikindo chairman Bambang
Trisulo said the event had adopted environmentally friendly themes
since 2005 so as to help promote awareness of the need to create a
better environment.
While in the past two years there had been a lack of enthusiasm on the
part of automobile firms about the "green car" concept, he expressed
the hope that more environmentally friendly cars would be exhibited
this year.
Bambang also said he hoped the annual event would help increase car
sales, which declined slightly last month due to the major floods that
paralyzed Jakarta.
"We hope that vehicle sales will reach 400,000 this year," Bambang
said. Last year, domestic vehicle sales only amounted to 318,904 units
(both passenger and commercial vehicles), below the Gaikindo target of
600,000.
With the decline in interest rates, Bambang said he was upbeat that
this year's target could be achieved. Indonesia's vehicle sales reached
a record high of 534,000 in 2005.
A total of 5,406 vehicles, with a value of over Rp 1 trillion
(US$109.89 million), were sold during last year's motor show.
The event organizer, Dyandra Promosindo, expressed the hope that the
value of sales this year would be higher against a backdrop of lower
lending rates, given that car purchases in Indonesia are mostly
financed by consumer loans.
Some 200,000 people are expected to visit the 10-day show, which will
be held at the 35,000-square-meter exhibition arena at the Jakarta
Convention Center, Dyandra said".
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