BMW Indonesia reports record sales growth in 2009

A not very good year for the country's automotive sector failed to push the prestige premium BMW off the road, with a pristine performance last year, as BMW Indonesia posted a trend-defying 25 percent growth in sales.

In a year when automotive sales dropped overall by 20 percent on the year before, 901 premium BMWs found happy owners in 2009, as against 720 a year earlier.

"We are extremely happy with the achievement. Indonesia is one of a few markets in the world where volume continued to grow significantly in 2009 despite the global economic crisis," BMW Indonesia president director Ramesh Divyanathan told a press gathering.

BMW reported sales of 42 luxurious 750Li and 740Li saloons, plus 50 sales for the BMW 7 Series representing a 163 percent growth in sales against the previous year, leading BMW's overall performance in sales growth for any given model.

The sales of the BMW 5 Series  did well at 208  cars sold, or a growth of 41 percent and the BMW 3 Series booked sales of 539 cars, or a growth of 34 percent for that model.

In addition, the sales of previously-owned BMWs, known as the BMW Premium Selection by Bestindo Car Utama saw an increase of 35 percent with 202 cars.