Photo: Ray Ally
What do Lamborghini, Bugatti, and Aston Martin have in common in China? Well, apart from being the most luxurious sports cars in the world, they have all recently opened new showrooms in Beijing. These premises on Jinbao Street, are the largest flagships sites for the brands in Asia.
The obvious reason for opening in Beijing, are it’s the capital and political centre of China. It is also a favourite destination for China’s rich to shop. More importantly it’s the home of the most number of super rich people in the country. According to the Hurun Report there are 8,800 billionaires (US$15m) and 143,000 millionaires (US$1.5m) in Beijing, most owning at least two to five luxury cars.
In the current global recession most car owners are looking for more economic and fuel efficient options, or just not buying new cars. With sales down in the rest of the world, China is the opposite with booming car sales across the country. China’s wealthy elite are even trading up and looking for ever more exotic cars to buy.
Late last year I was interviewed by CNN on a story about one of Beijing’s most private clubs. An exclusive members only club for the sons of millionaires, who race high performance cars around Beijing’s race tracks.
These members drive Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Porsches but not just your bog standard range. Most of these cars are special edition or supercharged versions costing upwards of RMB 2m (US$285,000) to RMB 3m (US$428,000)
With all the world’s car brands looking to China for their growth, luxury car brands could be the most successful. China is now the number one or number two market for most car brands. Lamborghini sees China soon overtaking Italy, to become number two market behind the USA. Last year they sold around 80 units in China out of global sales of 2,000.
The traffic in Beijing is getting worse, yet car ownership in the city is on the rise. With a population of 17.5 million there are currently over four million cars on its roads. Despite this number rising by 2,000 new cars everyday you wont see many of these luxury cars on the streets of Beijing.
Only last month a Bugatti Veyron was spotted in Shanghai. The other drivers on the road, gave it a wide berth for fear of bumping into it. So if you see a luxury performance car in China, it will more likely be stuck in traffic, than roaring down the street at superfast speeds.
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Your millionaire / billionaire math has got to be wrong.
Once while travelling in China with a Chinese friend we saw a Lincoln Navigator and a Hummer limo on Chang’An Jie. My friend went berserk telling me how rich those people must be and how expensive it is to own a foreign car. I didn’t believe him at the time, but I didn’t understand Chinese luxury tax either.