#Taobao

Taobao is China’s Ebay. After Geely had kicked-off the craze, other brands, such as BMW, Audi, and Volvo followed. Yesterday, Lamborghini created quite a stir in China by mentioning to Beijing Times that they would also create a webstore for their 3 to 6 million yuan ($ 460,000 to about a million U.S.) supercars. Yesterday, the site went up. Depending on who’s writing, the site created between 5,000 and 8,000 orders in a single day. Not bad for a brand that moved 260 Lambos in all of 2010. New and old media (see new item from Hong Kong above) praised the site where you can “peruse the 17 models on offer, which go from 3.5 million RMB right up to 6.5 million RMB for the fantastically sinister and shouty Aventador LP700-4.” However …

When GM tried to sell cars via eBay, 45 cars were sold in the first nine days. A month later, the idea was abandoned. Is the idea dead? Not in China.

GM’s attempt to sell cars via eBay resulted in 45 cars sold in the first nine days. A month later, the idea was abandoned. I wonder why. A few weeks ago, Kia said they would try eBay. No word yet on any results. Now, China’s Geely joins the on-line fray.