In 2011, sales of luxury car brands in China took a hit and the double-digit growth rate was far ahead of the average in the automotive market. In 2012, the luxury car market in China will undoubtedly continue to grow at a high speed. Luxury brands are racing around and a decisive battle is about to take place.

In 2011, global car sales were approximately 70 million vehicles, including 5 million luxury cars. The sales of luxury brands accounted for 7%, and the mature market averaged 15%, of which Germany was up to 30%. According to the market size of China's 18 million vehicles, sales of luxury cars should be at least 2.7 million vehicles, and the current level is less than half of this figure. According to the calculation of the base of more than 900,000 vehicles last year, the market can still grow at a 30% growth rate for 4-5 years.

However, the space for sales growth is not inclusive, and the Chinese luxury car market is clearly showing a monopoly by the German “three-car luxury carriage”. From the sales situation last year, Audi, BMW and Mercedes have taken away the biggest piece of cake. Audi sold more than 300,000 vehicles in China last year and replaced Audi as the largest market in Germany; BMW and its Mini and Rolls-Royce brands followed suit, occupying the second position; Mercedes-Benz experienced After major changes in the marketing system, it also created a record high of nearly 200,000 vehicles. The total sales of the three companies exceed 700,000 vehicles, accounting for nearly 80% of the luxury car market.

This inertia will continue in 2012. Audi has set a goal of accumulating 1 million vehicles in 2011-2013, which means an average growth rate of about 25% in three years, with more than 500 dealers covering the second and third-tier cities; BMW has launched a strong drive for Audi. With strong impact, BMW plans to sell more than 2 million vehicles worldwide in 2020, of which a significant portion of the 400,000 new units will come from the Chinese market. In the 2015 Mercedes-Benz plan, China will target 300,000 sales, of which 200,000 will be produced locally. .

In addition, Volvo is also a dark horse in the luxury car market. Sales of nearly 50,000 vehicles and 54.4% growth have made this former Nordic niche brand a mainstream player. According to the planning of the Volvo management team, in addition to the replacement of old cars such as the S80 and XC90 in the coming years, a series of new products will be introduced, including large-scale luxury cars developed for the Chinese market. According to the plan, Volvo sold 200,000 vehicles in China in 2015, becoming a truly mainstream luxury brand.

Compared with the strength of European luxury cars, other luxury brands cannot but say that they are squeaking. Lexus, which ranks third in sales of luxury cars in the North American market, faced a bottleneck in China. Last year, the sales volume of 55,000 units was barely completed. The impact caused by the earthquake was an accident and the product line and brand building were not good enough. . At the time of GAC Toyota’s joint venture, Japan’s wrong decisions caused Lexus to miss the best domestic opportunity, which was also an important reason for the bleak performance today. By contrast, Infiniti decided to learn from Audi's experience and rely on increasingly stronger Dongfeng Nissan to seek breakthroughs through domestic production. However, there is still a long way to go to reach the scale of production and network of German opponents. In addition, the brand appeal of Japanese luxury cars is the biggest disadvantage relative to Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi, and it is not a day to change the status quo.

The decisive battle of luxury cars in 2012 will be carried out in all aspects of products, brands, markets, and marketing networks. If 2011 is called the first year of China's luxury car, then 2012 will be the beginning of real prosperity. The situation that is almost monopolized by German cars is inevitable. It may be more exciting to see how other luxury brands can share the remaining shares.