Founders say it is the only way they can guarantee the group's longevity

BEIJING - On the night of Nov 11, more than 150 super cars were driven into the Worker's Stadium where some of the most fashionable bars in the Chinese capital can now be found. Almost all models of super cars were present, including Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Paganis and Aston Martins.

Zhang Kuan (left) standing beside luxury sports cars with a member of his Super Car Club (SCC). The cars' owners, all members of the SCC, attended the opening ceremony for a fashion shop in Beijing.[Photo/Provided to China Daily]

"I had never before seen so many super cars on the street at one time," said He Shuai, a self-confessed party animal who had been drinking in local bars.

He guessed that a new bar was opening that night, but when he tried to enter the premises attracting super car owners, he was stopped because it is private, only serving members of the Super Car Club (SCC).

"The bar is our company's first property. We established a corporation based on the car club to enable it to operate for a long time," said Zhang Kuan, the SCC's founder and also the corporate representative of Beijing SCC Co Ltd.

Zhang said he did not like to call the venue a bar because it is more like a home for SCC members. They plan to establish more such bars around the country in the future.

Zhang, who is in his 30s, launched the SCC with some friends in Beijing in August 2009, almost a year after he bought his first super car - a Ferrari. The club has now expanded to 15 branches around the country and has about 500 registered members and 700 registered super cars.

In addition to other unscheduled activities, the SCC organizes members to attend big super car races, such as the annual Super Car Carnival in Shanghai. Zhang and several other co-founders have spent all their time and energy on the SCC over the past two years, he said.

Beijing SCC Co Ltd, which owns the SCC, was registered with the authorities on June 1, 2011, and has about 20 full-time staff members.

"The development of the SCC pushed the birth of the company," Zhang said, adding members are usually multimillionaires who have at least one super car worth at least 1.5 million yuan ($234,375). But a requirement to be rich is not an obstacle to the SCC expanding.

According to Hurun Wealth Report 2011, there are 960,000 multimillionaires with a personal wealth of 10 million yuan or more each in China.

There were several reasons for commercializing the SCC.

It needed professional staff to organize activities and races because it was expanding fast and core members did not have enough time to make the necessary arrangements.

The SCC had also built up a relationship with the Automobile Club de Monaco (ACM), one of the oldest super car clubs in the world and needed a venue to receive ACM's members before the company was established.

The club could not thrive if it just depended on the founders' passion, Zhang said.

"I hoped the SCC would still exist when I am old. The best way to keep the SCC operating for a long time is to make it a commercial entity," he added.