Buyers go bananas over luxury vehicles
By Lao Gong (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-06-17 11:13

Ford Motor Co, which has two vehicle joint ventures in China, has also announced that it will introduce all brands of its Premium Automotive Group - Volvo, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Land Rover into China.

"China will be the No 1 priority market for us... we are in the process of coming into local production in China," said Hans-Olov Olsson, chief executive officer of the Sweden-based Volvo Car Corp.

Land Rover, Volvo and Jaguar will unite their sales networks in China.

"Land Rover will have 26 dealers in China early next year, up from the current nine. Most of those dealers will also sell Volvos, and many will sell Jaguars too," said Matthew Taylor, managing director of Land Rover.

Taylor said China will be Land Rover's biggest single growth market worldwide and predicted the brand's sales volume in China will reach 3,500 units annually over the next five years.

However, almost all of luxury or "premium" sedans displayed during the motor show were foreign brands, except the Red Flag Flagship, developed by FAW.

"Chinese manufacturers at present do not have the ability to develop luxury cars independently at similar levels with foreign big names," said Jia Xinguang, chief analyst with the China National Automotive Industry Consulting and Development Corp.

"There is a long way to go for Chinese automakers to be strong competitors in the luxury car market."

At present, more than 90 per cent of the total car market in China is controlled by foreign brands, let alone the luxury segment.