BMW - Chinese millionaires' favorite luxury brand!

[EnI]

BMW Emerges As China's Favourite Luxury Brand As Sales Boom


German automaker BMW AG has emerged as China's favourite luxury brand as the premium car group said Friday its sales in the Asian powerhouse economy boomed.

While BMW said its 2006 sales in China raced ahead by 51.3 per cent, a study on the nation's booming luxury goods market named the Munich-based premium cars as the most popular brand among China's burgeoning new rich.

Drawn up by a company specializing in monitoring consumer tastes among wealthy Chinese, the so-called Hurun report showed BMW beating other leading luxury brand names such as French fashion group Louis Vuitton, watchmaker Rolex and BMW rival Mercedes Benz to the number spot among China's elite.

The research, which was based on the responses of 604 Chinese entrepreneurs with a wealth of over one million dollars, was also a further sign of the rapidly changing lifestyles taking hold in the nation.

Amid a boom in luxury car sales in China, BMW said that sales in the nation last year totalled 36,357 cars with sales rising by 35.4 per cent when Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau were included in the figures.

China's new rich nominated Nokia as their favourite mobile phone but also enjoyed the fashion wear offered by Giorgio Armani, the Hurun study showed. IBM was ranked as the best laptop computer.

The Hurun report showed that China's wealthy prefer to spend more time wine tasting than with their family.

China's wealthy like to spend their spare time travelling, with Australia their favourite international destination followed by France and the United States.

The Chinese resort island of Hainan was the most popular domestic destination for China's elite. BMW also said sales of its compact Mini brand surged by a staggering 250 per cent to 1,057 vehicles in China last year.

But as a sign of the rapidly growing demand for luxury cars in China, sales of Rolls Royce saloons, which are also part of the BMW car stable, soared by 60 per cent last year.

© 2007 DPA

http://www.playfuls.com/news_09_2069-BMW-Emerges-As-Chinas-Favourite-Luxury-Brand-As-Sales-Boom.html

 

[Poverty]

Re: BMW - favorite luxury brand in China!

A bit of a misleading article title there.

 

[Imhotep Evil]

Re: BMW - favorite luxury brand in China!

True.
By sales Audi is no.1 by quite a margin.

 

[Yperion]

Re: BMW - favorite luxury brand in China!

Newly nich Chinese prefer BMW as i understand from the article.

This older article that was posted in the forum not long ago confirms that:

"Mercedes is also known as the car to ride in. China's established wealthy are still more inclined to ride than drive," Asher said.

In contrast, BMW's brand image in China has been downgraded a little by the fact that many of its customers are nouveau riche.

http://www.china.org.cn/english/BAT/189619.htm

 

[EnI]

Re: BMW - favorite luxury brand in China!

Indeed.

While Audi capitalizing on being an official supplier to Chinese communist regime, BMW cars are more preferred by Chinese nouveau riche - the emerging class in China. As you can see 604 magnates have declared BMW as their favourite luxury brand - not just among automotive brands, but in general.

Btw, saying that BMW image downgraded due their customers being mainly nouveau riche is a bit ignorant & stupid.

In whose eyes has been BMW image downgraded?
In the eyes of people who can't afford BMW? Not relevant!
In the eyes Chinese non-existing aristocracy? Not possible since it is non-existent!
In the eyes of communist regime? That can boost BMW image even more.

Nuoveau riche are the biggest customers of luxury goods in the developing countries. Who else would it be? There is no aristocracy, or rich families with an old pedigree in those countries. Definitely not in Mainland China - but very much likely in Hong Kong especially (and also Taiwan in lesser extent).


PS: yes, BMW still lags behind Audi very much in sales. And it looks like Audi will boost the sales even more - and increase the gap. But ... It can be very dangerous for Audi in the long run to be tagged as the "official car of the regime"!

 

[Choleric]

Re: BMW - favorite luxury brand in China!

Indeed.

While Audi capitalizing on being an official supplier to Chinese communist regime, BMW cars are more preferred by Chinese nouveau riche - the emerging class in China. As you can see 604 magnates have declared BMW as their favourite luxury brand - not just among automotive brands, but in general.

Btw, saying that BMW image downgraded due their customers being mainly nouveau riche is a bit ignorant & stupid.

In whose eyes has been BMW image downgraded?
In the eyes of people who can't afford BMW? Not relevant!
In the eyes Chinese non-existing aristocracy? Not possible since it is non-existent!
In the eyes of communist regime? That can boost BMW image even more.

Nuoveau riche are the biggest customers of luxury goods in the developing countries. Who else would it be? There is no aristocracy, or rich families with an old pedigree in those countries. Definitely not in Mainland China - but very much likely in Hong Kong especially (and also Taiwan in lesser extent).


PS: yes, BMW still lags behind Audi very much in sales. And it looks like Audi will boost the sales even more - and increase the gap. But ... It can be very dangerous for Audi in the long run to be tagged as the "official car of the regime"!

I love how youre turninug this Audi vs. BMW thing into a communism vs. non-communism thing. Who cares if Audi sells their cars to the government. Do we care anymore who was the supplier for the Nazi's?

Why is it neccesary to even mention "communist regime" at all, this was simply a thread about car popularity in China.

 

[EnI]

Re: BMW - favorite luxury brand in China!

I love how youre turninug this Audi vs. BMW thing into a communism vs. non-communism thing. Who cares if Audi sells their cars to the government. Do we care anymore who was the supplier for the Nazi's?

Why is it neccesary to even mention "communist regime" at all, this was simply a thread about car popularity in China.

Sorry, it's a fact. It's not something I made up.

It's not my fault Audi has chosen to tie with the Chinese government. I'm not saying anything is wrong with that. But IMO that can hurt their future image in China.

You can cover your eyes (and ears) , but that will change nothing.

 

[Choleric]

Re: BMW - favorite luxury brand in China!

Ok fair enough, I never doubted that they did.

Just IMO I think it will have a very small if any impact on their image.

So I agree to disagree.

 

[Mr. M]

Re: BMW - favorite luxury brand in China!

Just IMO I dont think it will have a very small if any impact on their image.

The dictator of North Korea, Kim Jong Ill has a few Phaetons. Sometimes being tied to such a meticulous and fussy dictator can have a good effect on the Phaeton's image. One instance to show how fussy he really is: every grain of rice he eats is checked carefully by his workers to make sure that they are perfectly shaped.

But back to the topic. China being the second largest car market in the world (and very soon the largest) I wonder how the big carmakers would do in the future: that is, whether they would cater to Chinese tastes in design. Now they are offering LWB versions of the S6/5er but I have no reason to doubt China will play a bigger influence in product development in the future.

 

[Yperion]

Re: BMW - favorite luxury brand in China!

Audi is doing great in China with 30% rise in sales compared to last year. Whether those who buy the cars are communists , capitalists or even aliens i really don't care.

 

[bmer]

Re: BMW - favorite luxury brand in China!

Audi is doing great in China with 30% rise in sales compared to last year. Whether those who buy the cars are communists , capitalists or even aliens i really don't care.

Maybe you don't care but in the world of today companies must have an ethical responsibility. It isn't right to sell cars to the leaders of a country that doesn't have human rights (like North Korea or Myanmar).

 

[EnI]

Another (a bit more insightful) article:

BMW is Chinese millionaires' favorite brand

(Xinhua)

Updated: 2007-01-13 20:52

Beijing -- BMW is Chinese millionaires' favorite luxury brand, according to a survey conducted by a company owned by Rubert Hoogewerf.
Hoogewerf, known as "Hurun" in China for his list of China's Fortune 100, surveyed the lifestyle of 604 Chinese entrepreneurs each with personal assets over 10 million yuan (about US$1.28 million).
BMW, Louis Vuitton, Mercedes-Benz, Rolex and Giorgio Armani were the top five luxury brands on the list, followed by Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Cartier and Vacheron Constatin.
Luxury sedans, watches and fashion items are status symbols that allow China's new rich to show off their success, said the report on www.hurun.net .
Traveling, swimming and golf were voted the most popular leisure activities. Family activities only came seventh, despite the fact that 90 percent of the millionaires surveyed claimed their families were more important than their careers.
Homemade spirits and cigarette brands won applause with Wuliangye and Zhonghua being voted Best Liquor and Best Cigarette.
The millionaires voted Air China Best Domestic Airline and Tsinghua University was Best Executive MBA programme provider. China Merchants Bank was selected as the best provider of onshore personal banking and credit card services.

Yet, Audi A6 was voted "Best Executive Sedan".

****

Original survey report:

http://www.hurun.net/showmagazineencontent158.aspx

All survey results:

http://www.hurun.net/bestofbest2006en.aspx

 

[SCOTT27]

Re: BMW - favorite luxury brand in China!

In contrast, BMW's brand image in China has been downgraded a little by the fact that many of its customers are nouveau riche.

In Germany Many eyes regard Porsche as noveau riche...

 

[EnI]

What the h... is wrong with the nouveau riche in your eyes????

You guys are talking about that class like those people being the worst of the worst.

Are you being jealous, being communists, or being snobbish aristocrats?




In many countries German trio is not as affordable and spread like in eg Germany (or even US or UK). So the nouveau riche being the only class who can afford such cars. So, why do you so degrading this class? Oh, yeah .... jealousy.

 

[BeeAmDoubleU]

I live in Vancouver BC and there is a large chinese population and majority of the Rich Chinese population drives BMWs, actualy i'd say 70% of bmws you see on the road around vancouver are chinese people driving. I'm half chinese, and everybody on my chinese side of the family drives BMWs.

 

[Imhotep Evil]

What the h... is wrong with the nouveau riche in your eyes????

You guys are talking about that class like those people being the worst of the worst.

Are you being jealous, being communists, or being snobbish aristocrats?




In many countries German trio is not as affordable and spread like in eg Germany (or even US or UK). So the nouveau riche being the only class who can afford such cars. So, why do you so degrading this class? Oh, yeah .... jealousy.

Well nouveau riche has a bad conotation vs. say self made man (an american term).
Ofcourse this goes way back in european history. The ancient romans called such people homo novus. The established aristocracy could not stand them.

The americans use the term glass ceiling, but for europeans it would be more like cement ceiling.

 

[EnI]

Well nouveau riche has a bad conotation vs. say self made man (an american term).
Ofcourse this goes way back in european history. The ancient romans called such people homo novus. The established aristocracy could not stand them.

The americans use the term glass ceiling, but for europeans it would be more like cement ceiling.

True. But in ex-communist / socialist countries (eg. Russia, China etc) there is no aristocracy base, or "self made men" base. The rich people are exclusively nouveau riche.

 

[chickencurry]

As they say " Nouveaux Riche is better than no rich at all"

 

[Mr. M]

I live in Vancouver BC and there is a large chinese population and majority of the Rich Chinese population drives BMWs, actualy i'd say 70% of bmws you see on the road around vancouver are chinese people driving. I'm half chinese, and everybody on my chinese side of the family drives BMWs.

I could say the same for Singapore, we have 70% Chinese and most of 'em drive BMWs. But China's Chinese are entirely different.

 

[BeeAmDoubleU]

I could say the same for Singapore, we have 70% Chinese and most of 'em drive BMWs. But China's Chinese are entirely different.

it was first the chinese imigrants from Hongkong who were the rich ppl, then it was the taiwanese rich imigrants, and ACTUALY most of the chinese imigrants from mainland china are now filthy rich!!!