Pininfarina secures 30% of China car design market

Shanghai, May 26 (Gasgoo.com) Italian car design firm Pininfarina is securing its future by designing and engineering Chinese-made cars for the country's rapidly growing market, the AP reported yesterday.

The Pininfarina design house has captured an estimated 30% of China's car design market, working with automakers such as Chery Auto and Brilliance Auto.

Pininfarina designed the four-door Chery A3, its biggest Chinese success to date, and the Brilliance Junjie sedan, which won the "Best New Car" award at the 2006 Beijing Motor Show.

It has created some two dozen cars for Chinese automakers over the last 14 years, and worked on seven new models introduced at this year's Beijing Motor Show alone.

Pininfarina designs for China's auto companies are aimed mostly at the upwardly mobile urban-dweller, and not the provincial market where locally designed cars are the bigger sellers.

China's auto market, now the world's largest, is fast growing. Passenger car sales grew from 665,000 units in 2000 to 8.3 million last year and will likely grow to 11.4 million by 2014.

Pininfarina helps China's fast-growing auto industry gain know-how, especially at the higher end, and China also plays a role in the designer's redefining its business goals.