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After the crazy development in 2009, the Chinese auto market entered its cooldown period. Rising oil prices and increasingly expensive license plates make people consider carefully before buying vehicles.
However, while the Chinese general auto market is not as prosperous as before, there is always a paradise market that seems to be immune to the effect. It is the luxury vehicle market, where the prosperity never leaves.
In the first nine months of 2011, the domestic auto market in China had a 3.5% year-on-year increase. In comparison, the luxury vehicle market increased by 40% in the same period. The traditional “Big Three from Germany”– Audi, Mercedes Benz and BMW – still made up nearly 90% of China’s luxury vehicle market.
The Outshining Luxury Vehicle Market
Audi, which just set up two new plants in China, began to increase the gap between itself and its two German peers by increasing production capacity. In September, Audi sold 29,188 vehicles in China, an increase of 33% from last September. By October 7, the number of Audi vehicles sold in China had already exceeded the number sold in 2010.
In comparison, BMW and Mercedes Benz were experiencing slower growth in the past months but their growth rate was still higher than the average level in the whole auto market. BMW sold 18.6 thousand vehicles in China in September and the year-onyear increase was 20.9%, a little slower than in August. However, the sale of BMW vehicles in the first three quarters was quite good – 177.5 thousand autos of BMW MINI brand were sold within this period. This great performance in China helped BMW become the champion among all luxury vehicle manufacturers in sales in the first three quarters. In that period, the German automaker sold 1.2326 million units around the world, a 16% increase from the same period in 2010.
Mercedes Benz also firmly followed BMW and Audi in the Chinese market. In the first three quarters, Mercedes Benz sold 139.4 thousand vehicles of Mercedes Benz, Smart, AMG and Maybach. Their sales increased by 38% compared with the same period of last year. In September about 15.8 thousand vehicles were sold.
In addition to the three German automakers, some minor brands had multiplied sales in the first nine months of 2011. By the end of September, Land Rover and Jaguar sold 29,377 units in China, higher than the number of units they sold in the whole year of 2010. The year-on-year increase reached 60%. Sales in September increased by 92% compared with last September.
Swedish brand Volvo saw 4,765 units sold in China in September, up 111% from last September. This was the third time that Volvo hit an historical high in sales in China within this year. By October 7, this Swedish luxury vehicle manufacturer had sold 33 thousand vehicles in China.
But of course not all brands had a happy time in China. Influenced by the earthquake and competition with the German companies, Japanese luxury vehicles, represented by Lexus and Infiniti, were having a comparatively tougher time in China.
The competition among different luxury vehicle brands became more intense than ever before. More luxury vehicle automakers accelerated their paces of launching new products in China. The range of their products have also expanded to take different segment markets. For example, Audi launched its A1 vehicle in China at the beginning of October to contend for the lowend luxury vehicle market in China with BMW’s Mini-Cooper.
Korean automaker Hyundai also launched the Veloter in addition to its lengthened version of the Equus in China, hoping to gain a certain share in the Chinese luxury vehicle market.
In addition to launching more products, the luxury vehicle manufac- turers have also sought breakthroughs in further digging up the Chinese market. Land Rover and Jaguar have been looking for a Chinese partner for two years. The latest news stated that Chinese automaker Chery might become their partner to localize their products in China.
Bullish on Future Potential
Compared with the slowed growth rate in the general auto market in China, the prosperous luxury vehicle market undoubtedly gave the automakers, especially the foreign automakers, more surprise and joy.
Zhang Xiaojun, executive manager of the Audi Sales Division of FAWVolkswagen, said that the development of the general auto market and the luxury vehicle market this year is very different than before. In the past few years, the growth rate of the luxury market in China is at most two times as high as that of the general auto market. But this year, the luxury vehicle market is developing three times as fast as the general auto market.
Zhang Xiaojun thinks that the demand of Chinese consumers for upgrading their vehicles is huge in this period and that there are a large number of people with the potential to buy lux- ury vehicles in China. “According to our research, about 70%-80% of luxury vehicle purchasers buy cars to replace their old ones.”
In addition, the fast increase of luxury vehicles purchases in China is somewhat due to the small base number. “Compared with foreign countries, the proportion of luxury vehicles in the whole auto market is still quite low. The average level in developed countries is 15% to 20%. In Germany the proportion even reaches 30%. But in China, the proportion is only 6%,” said Zhang Xiaojun.
Apart from the great potential, the characteristic features of luxury vehicles are related to their increasing popularity in China. Xiang Hansong, a famous analyst in the luxury vehicle market, said that consumers care less about prices when buying luxury vehicles than buying ordinary vehicles. Therefore, when the Chinese government removed the subsidies for buying vehicles this year, the consumers planning to buy luxury vehicles were less affected. The fast development of the Chinese economy helps more Chinese people accumulate enough wealth to afford luxury cars.
“The Chinese high-end auto market will have a great period of development in the future,” said Zhang Xiaojun. Nakajima Kento, senior executive of Lexus China, shared the same opinion with Zhang Xiaojun. He believed that the luxury market in China still has a lot of potential.
The foreign automakers hold an optimistic outlook for the Chinese luxury vehicle market. Even Lexus, which was quite conservative in the past few years, fixed the plan of doubling its sales to 100 thousand units in China in the next three years.