Despite being the world’s biggest car market, China ranks third in the luxury segment, trailing both the U.S. and Germany. Analysts, however, predict that this is about to change soon; in fact, it could even happen at the end of 2011.
According to a report from Bloomberg, Jenny Gu, an analyst at research company LMC Automotive, estimated that the number of luxury cars sold in China in 2011 may reach 939,000 units, surpassing Germany’s estimate of 914,000 sales.
In spite of China’s car sales cooling down compared to previous years, the luxury car segment has increased by an astonishing 39 percent, and Gu is expecting a 16 percent rise in 2012 compared to Germany’s 4.4 percent forecast.
“Luxury car demand is still on the rise in China with low penetration rates”, said LMC’s Gu. “Sales of such cars in developed markets like Germany fluctuate together with the economic cycle.”
Audi is the current leader in the premium car segment in the Chinese market, with a 35 percent rise to 283,600 deliveries through the end of November. BMW has recorded a 40 percent increase compared to 2010, but remains in second place with 200,699 sales, while Mercedes-Benz is third, with 170,112 deliveries and a 31 percent increase over last year.
LMC Automotive, which tracks sales of 21 premium car brands, raised its 2012 sales forecast for the Chinese market to 1.09 million units and lowered that for Germany to 954,000 vehicles.
According to the LMC Automotive, the U.S. will continue to be the world’s largest market for luxury carmakers, a position it will retain in 2012 if its forecast for an 18 percent increase to 1.65 million sales, proves to be accurate.
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