Luxury Car Consumers Start Delaying Purchases, Here's Why

KatadataOTO – In Indonesia, sales of luxury cars at the retail level, or distribution from dealers to consumers, experienced a sharp decline of 33 percent.

Throughout October 2025, retail sales of luxury cars were only 391 units. Compared to September, the figure reached 588 units.

The economic situation is not the main factor causing the decline in luxury car sales, and even tends to have little effect on upper-class consumers.

However, other factors are at play. According to the head of RMA Indonesia, the Brand Holder Agent (APM) for Ford in Indonesia, international policy is one of the culprits.

Photo : Ford

“So I feel there is some hesitation in the (luxury car) market, because people are saying that perhaps import tariffs will decrease for products coming from the United States,” said Roelof Lamberts, Regional Director of RMA Indonesia in Jakarta recently.

According to Roelof, this also played a role in the reception of their newest product, the Ford Mustang, in Indonesia.

It should be noted that Ford's vehicle lineup is imported fully assembled, or with Completely Built Up (CBU) status, from Thailand. For example, the Ford Ranger and Everest.

Only their iconic sports car, the Ford Mustang, is shipped directly to Indonesia from the United States.

Roelof revealed that many people are waiting for the price of luxury cars from the US, like the Ford Mustang, to decrease and become an attractive option for consumers.

As a result, some of them have decided to postpone their purchases while waiting for the said regulation to affect car prices.

He also admitted that he could not confirm whether the price of the Ford Mustang would drop in the future due to a new trade agreement.

Photo : Ford

“Yes, I still need to see more. We don't know when this will happen, there is still a lot of speculation,” Roelof affirmed.

Similar to Ford, the announcement of the IEU-CEPA agreement, which regulates import tariffs for vehicles from Europe to Indonesia, also became a topic of discussion.

Although brands like BMW welcomed the decision, until now there has been no official announcement regarding price adjustments for luxury BMW cars following this agreement.