Indonesia 1998: Timor S515 up to #4 in annihilated market (-84.1%)

Timor also sold the very rare SW516.

The South-East Asian financial and economic crisis has an absolutely devastating effect on new car sales in Indonesia, down -84.1% to go from a record 336.968 units in 1997 to just 53.412 in 1998, the lowest annual volume in 23 years (since 1975). The Top 6 brands all lose more than -80% year-on-year: Toyota (-82%) improves to 30.6% share, Isuzu (-81.7%) climbs to #2 for the first time at 15.7%, knocking Suzuki (-88.1%) down to #3 while Daihatsu (-86.6%) is back above Mitsubishi (-87.7%) at #4. Timor (-87.2%) remains at #6, with Chevrolet (-69.9%), Ford (-71.1%) and Mazda (-71.1%) resisting “best” in the Top 10.

The Toyota Kijang remains the best-selling vehicle in Indonesia.

In the models ranking, the Toyota Kijang (-81.7%) improves its share to 27.8%, its highest since 1991, while the Isuzu Panther (-82.7%) ascends to 14.2% share and remains at #2, keeping the Suzuki Carry (-88.2%) at bay. Even though it only started in 1996, the Timor brand adventure already ends in 1998, killed by the economic crisis and the demise of the Suharto regime. By now, 15.000 out of the nearly 40.000 Kias imported were still sitting unsold in Jakarta. Strikingly, during the May 1998 riots in Java, Timor owners would remove the “T” logos in the hope that they would not be targeted by protesters. Despite all this, the Timor S515 (-87.2%) manages to edge up one spot to a record 4th place overall, sidestepping the Daihatsu Zebra (-92%), and is now the only passenger car in the Top 10.

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Full Year 1998 Top 22 All-brands and Top 70 All-models below.