Comment on Luxury automakers scramble to woo young Chinese

By DIDI TANG, Associated Press, Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Business
Wed, 04/23/2014 - 2:35am

Luxury automakers scramble to woo young Chinese

BEIJING (AP) — At age 32, Jason Jia already is the kind of customer luxury automakers are seeking as competition grows in China's lucrative but crowded market. [...] luxury brands from Mercedes and Infiniti Audi to Lincoln are racing to create smaller, sportier models for younger Chinese buyers. Luxury automakers, like their mass-market counterparts, are looking to China to drive future growth and are investing heavily to gain or expand a foothold in its market. Torsten Muller-Otvos, CEO of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd., owned by BMW AG, expressed surprise at how young some buyers are. Audi got its start in China 25 years ago producing black A6 limousines for the government but says today 90 percent of sales are to private buyers. Buyers will be able to customize details of any Lincoln models, including the compact MKC sport utility vehicle aimed at younger drivers. Sales in China will give Lincoln "the ability to build scale and to invest engineering for more product that then we can sell in more markets, including North America." [...] the market appears to be immune to an official anti-corruption and austerity campaign launched by President Xi Jinping that has cut into sales of high-end liquor and other luxury goods. China already is the Goodwood, England-based company's biggest market, accounting for 26 percent of last year's record global sales of 3,630 vehicles. At the Beijing auto show, the centerpiece of the Rolls Royce exhibit was a silver-and-maroon limousine dubbed the Phantom Pinnacle Travel that was created for China.

 

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