Shanghai November 1 (Gasgoo.com) McKinsay & Company research revealed that around 30% of Chinese wealthy people are now living in the cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, etc., while by 2015, 75% of rich people will live in country's second- and third-tier cities but not those costal cities, according to China Times.
Goldman Sachs also predicted that the number of luxury consumers in China will grow from the current 40 million to 160 million in the next five years, with a majority of these people living in the second- and third-tier cities.
With an estimated investment of 300 million yuan ($44 million), Bentley China has developed a new five-year plan aiming to expand its dealer network and improve its brand value. In July this year, the British carmaker owned by Volkswagen, built its tenth dealership in China in Kunming, and will set up more dealerships in Xiamen, Shenyang and Tianjin in the future, its genearal manager Zheng Biao said in an interview earlier this year.
In 2009, Bentley reported sales of 421 units in China, making the country its third-largest market following the U.S. and Britain. In the first half of this year, the automaker delivered 376 vehicles in the Chinese market, a year-on-year growth of 121%. Ten years after entering the world's biggest automaker, Bentley has raised its sales target for 2011 to 1,000 units.
Another luxury brand, Rolls Royce, saw its China sales surge 146% in the first five months of this year to 678 units, and has a well-developed sales network in Chengdu, Shenzhen and Hanghzou.
Gao Mengxiong, Maserati China's sales manager, recently said in an interview that the brand's China sales ranked sixth globally at the end of 2009, but it has surprisingly climbed to the fourth place during the first quarter of this year.
Maserati has so far established a comprehensive sales and service network in eleven Chinese cities including Beijing, Dalian, Qingdao, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Kunming and Nanjing. Latest data show as of the third quarter of this year, the brand's sales in China has gained 60% compared to the same period last year. In the next few years, China is likely to become its second and even first market, Gao added.
In April, Lamborghini opened its seventh and eighth dealerships in Shenzhen and Xiamen respectively, and plans to open another dealership in Chongqing municipality that is also its first sales outlet in western China. New dealerships will also appear in Qingdao and Dalian.
Last year, the Italian sports-car maker sold 80 vehicles in China, 11% above its year-earlier level. It should have no problem achieving the sales target 100 units for 2010 as the number of its dealerships doubles.
