Sweden-based heavy equipment maker Volvo Construction Equipment plans to increase sales volume in Indonesia “in the near future” as the country emerges as one of Asia’s most promising target markets.
President director Olof Persson said Tuesday that Indonesia had always been a very good market target for the company’s products particularly for articulated haulers — trucks designed to transport
loads through rough terrains — and excavators.
“We plan to expand our sales volume in the country soon,” he told a press conference on the sidelines of the opening of the largest heavy equipment exhibitions, Bauma China 2010, at the Shanghai New International Expo Center.
As a developing nation that depends on its natural resources as the main revenue source, Indonesia needs a lot of heavy equipment to support the mining sector and infrastructure projects, he said.
However, he said Volvo was not yet ready to set up a production or assembling plant in the country, adding that the firm would
observe every potential of the Indonesian market before making such a big decision.
“For now, we’re focusing on supplying the right products that will meet the needs of our customers in Indonesia,” Persson said.
He maintained that Volvo was ready to compete with bigger players such as Japan-based Komatsu and US-based Caterpillar in the Indonesian heavy equipment market.
The company, he added, relied on its premium quality machines and solid after-sales services to win the customers’ hearts in the country.
Volvo Indonesia president director Derrick L.H. Sim said so far the company had sold around 600 units of heavy equipment in Indonesia.
This year’s sales achievement, he continued, had shown remarkable progress after selling only 200 units in 2009 due to the recent global financial meltdown.
Meanwhile, sales director of PT Intraco Penta, the sole distributor of Volvo heavy equipment in Indonesia, Willy Rumondor, told Indonesian journalists attending Bauma China 2010 that more than 60 percent of products Volvo could sell were articulated haulers.
“We’re the market leader for articulated haulers in Indonesia representing 65 percent of the market share,” he said, adding that Intraco could sell up to 250 articulated haulers in a different range of capacities per year.
He said that next year his firm could sell around 300 units of articulated haulers given the fact that the coal mining sector, a business field where the trucks are mostly used, still showed robust growth.
However, Willy admitted that Volvo was dominant only in the articulated hauler market since the company was the first to introduce the type of truck, which it did in 1954. He said Volvo could only grab 5 percent in the excavator market.
“Komatsu and Caterpillar remain the most dominant players in the heavy equipment market, not only in Indonesia, but worldwide.”
