Auto News for December 28th, 2011

By:

Steve K on 12/28/2011

Topic:

Auto News.

China Ready to Take a Second Spot in Style

 Everyone knows that we like to ride around in style (we being the Americans). According to LMC Automotive, the U.S. leads the world in luxury car sales, and is on track to purchase 1.4 million new luxuries this year (that’s 0.47% of the U.S. driving around in swank rides). Germany has traditionally lagged just behind the U.S. (though 1.11% of Germans enjoy luxury). Guess who’s replacing Germany this year? China! China’s on track to sell 939,000 new luxury cars in 2011 compared to 914,000 in Deutschland. Only 0.07% of Chinese drivers currently enjoy paid hipness, though.

While the comparative percentages here are interesting, they don’t tell the full story of the Chinese luxury auto market. Chinese luxury sales in 2011 are expected to beat 2010 sales by 39 percent, with Audi as the market leader, followed by BMW and Mercedes. All three brands have logged sizable yearly increases through November (35 percent, 40 percent and 31 percent, respectively).

Those (small) percentages referenced above are rough estimates of penetration rates (a true penetration rate would be a percentage of luxury drivers out of only drivers; percentages here are out of the respective country’s population…but…everyone’s a potential driver at some point, right!). And it’s just that tiny 0.07% penetration rate that makes auto manufacturers lust after the Chinese market.

Too bad China doesn’t have a CarWoo for new car buying. (I guess they might, but certain censorship rules prevent us from knowing.)