CHINA- Auto makers are no longer the only ones flourishing in China’s growing automobile market. With a growing interest in super luxury cars, luxury makers are just as racy to get their models into the market.
As the international sale of locally manufactured automobiles continues to rise, international interest in local production delineates China’s central role in the automotive industry. “Shanghai is the new Detroit," says Dan Collins of Port Huron, Mich. "They make a lot more cars here than in Detroit." In 1998, when Collin and his grandfather tested Henry Ford, Chinese consumers bought just 1.5 million cars annually, which when compared to last year’s 18.5 million car sales is incredibly low.
Consumer interest in luxury cars dates back to 2010 when the first luxury Bentley debuted in an Auto China Motor Show. It featured Orange and Magenta as exterior colors; Orange Flame and Magenta Metallic were offered as alternative options. Distinguished by an exterior wing badge, tread plate, and name badge positioned on the center console, the special edition also bore the Design Series China Signature, a signature that owes its “China” mark to a company that believed China to be the ideal market for luxury cars. Bentley’s belief in a luxury makers market has proved forthcoming.
According to Kingston Chang, business manager of Bentley China, more than 100 Bentley cars were sold in China in the first few months of this year, which doubled that of the same period last year.
LAMBORGHINI |
Other luxury car makers including Lamborghini, the Italian manufacturers, are also rushing to debut their new models. Lamborghini Estoque, priced around 4 million yuan ($589,000), has already been imported to China, wherein the majority of its units are being sold. Loaded with 5.2-liter V10 engine delivering around 560 hp, its engine is the present engine of Audi Q7, which is also capable of delivering 500+hp.
With Chinese auto makers currently marketing and selling their cars in the international market, luxury makers just may need to implement the same strategy to be more successful in an already diversely competitive China automobile industry.
By Nour Saqqa.
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