China car buyers look West

If your perception of China is based on paddy fields and scotch carts, think again. Recent statistical information tells us that wealthy Chinese folk are more likely to spend their money on premium or super luxury cars than any other nationality on earth.Seems like this is a socialist habit!

The findings are based on buying habits of individuals with an annual disposable income in excess of $100,000.

In China, 231 out of every 1,000 car buyers bought premium brands in 2009 compared with Germany at 176, Britain at 165, Spain at 81, Canada at 59 and the US at 52.

Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche accounted for 80 percent of these sales which in turn are estimated to account for half the global profits of these German carmakers. Further growth is also very much in the pipeline as the number of potential buyers in the aforementioned earning category is expected to grow from 1.8 million today to 3.5 million by 2015. The fact that all these manufacturers exceeded their annual profit forecasts by half through 2010 is adequate proof of the ongoing potential.

In overall terms, VW is comfortably the biggest selling foreign brand in China, showing an astonishing 41.8 percent increase in the first eight months of 2010 compared with the previous year. This translates into sales of 1.29 million units compared with 239,000 in the US, which nonetheless, was up by a very significant 22 percent.

On the back of a raft of new model introductions, many of which have been recognised in the shape of a succession of global awards, the VW Group moved 4.7 million units globally in the first eight months of the year,  an increase of nearly 14 percent over 2009.

Full story