Staff look into a BMW concept CS car during The Shanghai Auto Show in Shanghai April 20, 2007. [Reuters]

SHANGHAI - Beijing's attempts to cool a raging economy are mostly distant background noise for China's emerging class of super rich, who are simply looking for ways to express themselves as they gobble up the world's priciest autos.

"The pleasure of waiting to get that unique car tailor-made for them, is the excitement of the Chinese customer," Ian Robertson, chairman of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd., part of BMW, said on the eve of the Shanghai Auto Show.

"We see this as the most powerfully growing market in the world," said Robertson, whose company saw its China sales jump 60 percent last year.

Rolls-Royce will add two new dealerships in China in the coming year for a total of seven, a network that is second only to the United States.

Rolls-Royce recently sold a $2.3 million car in China that included rear-facing seats and drop-down flat-panel TV screens.

The number of billionaires in China doubled to 15 in 2006, according to a survey compiled by Rupert Hoogewerf, who pioneered a list for Forbes.

There are several hundred thousand millionaires, too, triggering a stampede to China by global luxury carmakers.

Chinese mainland's list is headed by Cheung Yan, founder and chairwoman of paper packaging firm Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Ltd., who saw her fortune balloon to US$3.4 billion boosted by an initial public offer of shares in Hong Kong.

(Editor: Cheung Yan was surpassed Thursday by 25-year-old Yang Huiyan whose wealth shot up to US$9 billion after the debut of property developer Country Garden in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. click for detailed report )

"They don't want to drive what everybody else drives," Bibiana Boerio, managing director of Ford Motor Co.'s  Jaguar marque in China. "They want their exclusivity."

That group is becoming less exclusive, however, as Jaguar sold 1,012 cars in China last year, up 58 percent and double the pace of growth for the overall car market in China.

Chinese are buying on average around 15,000 luxury cars a month, and that rate is accelerating as newer models are launched and more automakers target the newly affluent.

The three big Japanese rivals, Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. Ltd.  and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.  have all joined the charge, launching their Lexus, Acura and Infiniti luxury brands into a market sector that could be worth around $10 billion.

SUPER-LUXURY, SUPER GROWTH

China's first-quarter economic growth was above 11 percent and the country's main stock index soared 130 percent last year, making it the world's top major performer.

That growth has put more money into peoples' pockets and made a broad range of cars more affordable. Fast-rising, tech savvy young professionals hunger for speed and luxury.

The very rich seek super-luxury.

Women bought 30-40 percent of Jaguar's S-Type, a higher percentage than other markets in the world, said Boerio. "That says something about the confidence of Chinese women," she said.

Jaguar's highest priced car retails for about 1.52 million yuan ($197,000) -- about 100 times the annual income for the average Chinese. But the super rich are anything but average.

Growth in China's super-luxury sector has outpaced sales of the top-end models offered by BMW and DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes-Benz.

"The only limitation is your imagination," said Stuart McCullough, a board member of Bentley Motors Ltd., owned by Germany's Volkswagen.

Bentley sales in China doubled last year and are expected to double again this year to around 250 of the hand-crafted status symbol for the world's elite.

The firm has a pretty good idea of what sales will be this year as there is a waiting list of 18 months to two years, depending on the model.

But don't expect to get a deal on a Bentley just because you have a hit movie or scored the winning goal at the World Cup.

"The only person in the world who gets a deal on a Bentley is the Queen of England," said McCullough, whose cars can cost as much as 13 million yuan.

(US$=7.72 yuan)

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