Chinese Porsche dealer Jebsen Group to invest 468m yuan to expand sales network

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai February 22) - The largest Porsche dealer in China, Jebsen Group, announced that it will be investing 468 million yuan ($74.37m) over the next two years to expand its sales network, auto.ifeng.com reported today.

Despite the market slowing down as a whole last year, luxury manufacturers continued to perform strongly, with their sales increasing over 40 percent (compared to 2.45 percent for passenger vehicles). That may also be the case in 2012, with the World Luxury Association forecasting an increase of approximately 15 percent in the market for luxury automobiles.

Several factors are attributed to the success of these vehicles in the Chinese market, such as increased purchasing potential among the mid- to upper class, an every growing number of automobile purchases and falling prices for luxury models. The luxury market in China is still relatively small when compared with other countries, meaning that there is still a lot of room for it to grow.

CEO of market analysis firm Sinotrust Lin Lei agrees, noting that, unlike Western countries, luxury brands in China have the same potential to grow as other automobile segments. Several in the industry expect this situation to stay unchanged for the next decade.

BMW's sales in the first half of 2011 increased 98 percent, while Mercedes-Benz's sales grew 122 percent. Jaguar Land Rover, Lexus and Infiniti all performed strongly last year, as well.