China To Become World's Largest Market For Luxury Cars

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

China is rapidly becoming the world’s largest market for luxury cars. This is the conclusion of a study by the respected Institut für Automobilwirtschaft (IFA) of the university of Nürtingen-Geislingen, near Stuttgart. The study was made in cooperation with the likewise renowned Anting Automotive Academy of the Tongji University in Shanghai.

The study predicts that by 2015 two million premium cars will be sold in the PRC. That is four times the current uptake of luxury cars. In 2009, Chinese bought 500.000 cars for the upper class.

To come to this conclusion wasn’t all too hard. Already, China is the world’s largest market for Daimler’s S-Class. Audi predicts that China will be its biggest market worldwide by the end of this year.

By 2015, the study sees a market share of 12 percent for the premium segment in China. This, dear Professor Dietz, must be a mistake. It works out to a total market of 16.7m units by 2015. The Chinese plan to sell that this year.

The biggest share of the premium pie goes to the Germans. Last year, Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Porsche sold 323.100 units in China, says the study. The first quarter of 2010 was even more promising, says Gasgoo.

Audi’s deliveries rose 77 percent in the quarter to a record 51,449 units

BMW’s group sales in China more than doubled to 34,179 vehicles in the quarter.

Daimler said Chinese market sales of its Mercedes-Benz brand swelled 105 percent to 24,100 units.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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