Buyers go bananas over luxury vehicles By Lao Gong (China Daily) Updated: 2004-06-17 11:13
"The luxury car market has huge potential in China as face-loving Chinese
people are getting richer and richer, and luxury cars are one of best options to
show off their success," said Yale Zhang, a Shanghai-based manager of CSM
Worldwide Corp, a US auto consulting firm.
"Wow! You see the car is so distinguished! It will be very great to drive
such a car. I will surely buy one if I am rich enough one day," said a visitor
surnamed Wan, standing in front of the Jaguar stage.
However, "the luxury car segment is much less competitive than the low and
medium segments in China and prices are expected to decline sharply in the
segment in around three years with increasing competition between
manufacturers," Zhang told China Daily.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Govern-ment appears not to encourage the use of luxury
sedans.
The new auto policy, launched at the beginning of this year, says the
government encourages customers to use low-emission and low-pollution cars to
realize a "balance between urban transportation, environmental protection,
energy saving and auto industry development."
"The government should take market-oriented measures, especially in taxation
and charges, to limit the use of luxury cars," said Chen Qingtai, deputy
director of the Development and Research Centre of the State Council, China's
cabinet.
Chen also suggested the government should encourage domestic automakers to
develop and make cars suitable for China's resources and conditions.
China is suffering increasing oil shortages, and transportation and
environmental conditions are becoming worse in many big Chinese cities.
But foreign car makers still see huge potential in this market and
competition in this field is becoming fierce.
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