Independent Automotive Sector in D-8 Countries Steadily Improving
Jakarta, Indonesia | July 30, 2007 by
Encouraging news are coming from automotive sectors of the D-8 Countries. Strong economic growth, continuous increment of the export volumes and huge domestic automotive market had made countries such as Iran and Indonesia to expand more their performances in automotive sector.
Iranian auto industry is the 16th largest in the world, producing one million buses, lorries and cars a year.
This is quite an impressive fact for an industry that started in 1957 by assembling Jeeps, and is still subject to US sanctions because of its links with Iran 's government and military, even though all motor industries have such links, as the Independent reported.
According to professor Tom Donnelly, the director of the Motor Industry Observatory at the Coventry University Business School, "Iran is a major player in the Middle East and it does have ambitions to play with the big boys of the motor industry, with a target to raise production to 1.6 million vehicles a year by next year."
A target, if achieved, would make it the same size as Britain 's.
The ambitions of Iran 's car industry now seem to match the ambitions of the Iranian government–to increase its bearing on the region and the world.
Iran has a population of 65 million: 50 million is the minimum level estimated by analysts to sustain an indigenous industry. The nation also has a low car ownership ratio of one in 10 and a highly educated workforce.
On the other side, the Indonesian automotive sector is still in the emerging state, mostly consisting of vehicle assembling companies. It had gained proficiency in the assembly of minivan in which local content is close to 60 percent. But the passenger car and two wheeler segments are still largely dependent on imported content leading to higher costs of production and operation.
Indonesia is actively boosting up her figures in this sector by enriching opportunities for research and development, as well as holding various motorshows to fuel the sales, such as the Indonesia International Motorshow (IIMS) 2007 held in Jakarta from July 19 to 28, 2007. The motorshow is expected to conclude a car sale transaction worth Rp1.005 trillion, the organizers said on Thursday.
"We hope the car sales during the IIMS 2007, would exceed that of last year," organizing committee chairman Johnny Darmawan, who is also president director of PT Toyota Astra Motor (TAM), said on the sidelines of the IIMS.
He said that last year`s IIMS, held on July 21-30, sold 5,406 cars with a transaction value of Rp1.005 trillion.
Johnny expressed optimism that car sales in this year`s motorshow would exceed that of last year because the national car sales trend this year was significantly moving upward.
In the first semester of 2007 car sales increased 30 percent, reaching almost d 200 thousand units. In the same period last year, car sales only reached 150 thousand units.
In Turkey itself, automotive sector ranked first in exportation with 28.1 percent share, according to the Istanbul Chamber of Industry's 500 largest firms of Turkey list. The sector's export for the first quarter of the year reached $3.4 billion, while the sector's imports totaled $2.2 billion during the same period. In 2006 the imports of the automotive sector totaled $14.3 billion.
Automotive industry in fact is one important industry within D-8 countries, and discussed during Working Group on Industry in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last May 2007. D-8 Secretariat expects the detail of cooperation of automotive industry within the member states will be further discussed in the next WG on Industry in Indonesia.
To read related news please click below:
Tuzmen: We Will Boost Commercial Relations Among D-8
D-8 countries to take steps for PTA's implementation
D8 wants trade among members doubled
Read Also
- Global Investors Thrust Indonesian Automotive Exports
- Turkish Auto Supplier Industry Suffers Due to Slowdown: Time to Increase Ties with D-8 Automotive Manufactures
- Iran-Egypt to produce cars: Development from the D-8 Automotive Sector
- Amidst Obstacles, Fisheries Sector Proves to Stay Robust in D-8 Countries
- On the Independent Days: D-8 Believes Developments of Indonesia and Pakistan will Flourish
- Bangladesh’s Private Sector Credit Continues To Rise
- Iranian private sector ready to buy shares of Pakistani banks
- Turkey ranks 29th in machinery exports
- Among D-8 Countries, Malaysia and Turkey Ahead in Tourism Opportunities
- Tourist Arrivals in D-8 Countries Increased Significantly in 2007
Loading ...
Loading ...
Share your thoughts on this story. Please increase the credibility of your post by including your name and city, and by demonstrating respect for others' opinions. Comments will not appear immediately; all comments are moderated and will be posted in order of submission.