Personal Finance

Luxury brands eye 2nd-, 3rd-tier China cities

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-09-28 16:26

Luxury automakers have to cast their eye to second- and third-tier Chinese cities, when the markets of first-tier cities are becoming saturated.

Related publication:

Luxury brands eye 2nd-, 3rd-tier China cities

Audi has shifted the focus of its China expansion from big cities onto small and medium cities. Last year, it located its first Asian city exhibition hall in Ningbo, a port city in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejjiang.

Most city exhibition halls will be built in second-tier cities, said an executive from the Audi department of FAW-VW Automobile Co Ltd. In 2012, the number of cities covered by Audi's sales network will be driven from currently 86 to 100,he predicted.

From January to July 2009, Audi gained a sales volume of 79,000 in the country, even more than those by both Benz and BMW, but it underwent the lowest growth of 15 percent.

In order to obtain a bigger share in the Chinese luxury vehicle market, BMW and Mercedes-Benz also...

The full text is available in the September Issue of AutoChina. Please visit E-Shop for more subscription details.