Daihatsu Highlights Car Sales Challenges in the First Quarter of 2025

KatadataOTO – The automotive industry in Indonesia faced several sales challenges, especially at the beginning of the year.

At that time, there was the implementation of a surcharge on PKB (Motor Vehicle Tax) and BBNKB (Vehicle Title Transfer Fee), which became a concern for the public.

The amounts varied in each region. This then caused many people to expedite their purchases in December 2024 and tend to postpone them in 2025.

PT ADM (Astra Daihatsu Motor), as one of the manufacturers, revealed that car sales data from Gaikindo (Association of Indonesian Automotive Industries) experienced a decline in March 2025.

Photo : Special

“It reached around 210,430 units, or a decrease of approximately nine percent year-on-year,” said Sri Agung Handayani, Marketing and Corporate Communication Director of PT ADM in South Jakarta some time ago.

According to Agung, two factors caused this decline. The first was the surcharge discourse, which only found clarity and clear regulations on January 13, 2025.

“Some automotive manufacturers might have already known that many people made advance purchases in December. That's why the market in January dropped (experienced a decline),” said Agung.

Although it experienced a YoY increase in February, in March the wholesales figure (factory to dealer) was around 76.6 thousand units. This achievement was down from the same period in 2024, which was 82 thousand units.

The number of holidays during the Eid season was also seen as one of the challenges for manufacturers in selling their vehicles.

On the other hand, Agung revealed that retail sales (dealer to consumer) actually recorded good results.

“The average daily retail sales or effective days in March were higher. We hope that in the coming April, the conditions will improve even more,” said Agung.

Furthermore, his party hopes that future government policies can drive the economy as a whole, not just in the automotive sector.

Photo : Daihatsu

Then, support from the government is also needed so that Daihatsu's target market, namely first-car buyers, can still afford to buy their first vehicle.

For your information, Daihatsu currently relies on the LCGC (Low Cost Green Car) Sigra as the backbone of its sales. 

As of March 2025, the Daihatsu Sigra ranked as the second best-selling car in Indonesia, recording wholesales of 4,309 units, just behind the Toyota Avanza (5,069 units).