China is rapidly becoming every carmaker’s main market. Even city car manufacturer Smart expects China to become its leading market in a few years, leaving behind Germany and Italy. For the moment, China is behind only Germany in Smart sales.
Smart CEO Annette Winkler said brand sales are growing rapidly in China, despite the market’s appetite for big luxury automobiles. “When we started, many people doubted that Smart could be a success here, because normally, luxury, premium cars in China is about big cars,” Winkler was quoted as saying by Reuters.
However, during some months of this year, China has already been Smart’s No. 1 market, the executive added. The statements were made in Shanghai, where Smart is celebrating the fifth anniversary of its China launch.
While the premium car market has shown signs of slowing, sales of compact premium models are still growing fast in China. Smart sold about 17,500 cars in China last year and will hit a record this year with slight growth, according to Smart China president Daniel Lescow. And that’s before the launch of the all-new Smart ForTwo and ForFour, which will arrive in China next year.
“Starting from 2016, we will see double-digit growth again,” Lescow said, adding that more young Chinese buyers are becoming rich enough to afford a Smart car, which starts from 115,000 yuan ($18,589) in China. Smart sold more than 60,000 cars in China since the brand launched there in 2009. The company is represented by 143 sales outlets in 77 cities.
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