Japanese auto-maker Mazda Motor Corporation opened Wednesday its first wholly-owned dealership in Indonesia to boost sales in a market already dominated by fellow Japanese manufacturers.

The first dealership in West Jakarta is supervised by local distribution company PT Mazda Motor Indonesia (MMI), which was established soon after Mazda ended partnership with Indomobil Group earlier this year.

Indomobil handled Mazda's previous sales in the country.

"In addition to West Jakarta, we plan to build dealerships in South Jakarta, Pekanbaru, Banjarmasin, Balikpapan and Samarinda with an investment of 4 million U.S. dollars," said MMI President Yoshineri Nishihara.

Those towns are located on the main islands of Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Nishihara said the company has no ambitious target for the first year of direct sales, setting only modest sales of 500 units by the end of the year.

Despite the absence of an assembly plant in the country, Mazda guarantees continuous availability of parts imported from Thailand, said Kiyotaka Ishii, general manager of Mazda Asia Pacific sales department.

Mazda, which has recently claimed a global resurgence in both sales and profitability, plans to showcase launch models including Mazda3 and Mazda6 sedans, B-series pickup and RX-8 sports cars to boost sales in Indonesia.

The first dealership opens at a time when auto sales in Indonesia is predicted to slump to 350,000 units this year from a record 530,000 in 2005, according to the Indonesian automotive industries association Gaikindo.

The Indonesian market is dominated by Japanese car-makers, which placed eight out of top 10 sellers this year.

Toyota is the long-lived market leader in Indonesia and is traditionally trailed by Mitsubishi, which depends heavily on truck sales, Suzuki, Honda, Daihatsu and Isuzu.

Source: Xinhua