The price will drop sharply

The turbulent auto market has not affected the “luxuries” luxury market. In 2011, although the overall growth rate of the auto market was only 3.5%, the growth rate of the luxury car segment exceeded 40%, and the traditional “Germany's top three” remained strong, firmly occupying nearly 90% of the market share.

Statistics show that Audi is still the unrivalled leader in this market segment, with annual sales of 313,000 units; BMW is ranked second with sales of 232,000, but the gap with Audi has increased from 50,000 in 2010 to 8 10,000 units; Mercedes-Benz sold 193,000 units, and the growth rate of the three companies exceeded 30%, showing obvious advantages compared with Japanese competitors. In 2011, Lexus sold a total of 55,000 vehicles and Infiniti had 22,000 vehicles, while Akula, who insists on personalized design, is one of the few. In this case, the Japanese luxury car how to counterattack, become the biggest highlight of the 2012 luxury car market.

In fact, as early as last year, the counterattack of Japanese luxury cars has already begun. While Lexus introduced small-displacement, the number of 4S stores in China also quietly surpassed 100. Infiniti spread the news of domestically produced and scattered Dalian to the industry. At the same time, Jaguar Land Rover and Subaru have continued to spread domestically produced “sex scandals”. Localization has become a major weapon for second-tier luxury car brands to grab the Chinese market. It is foreseeable that as more and more brands join the domestic car camp, the Chinese luxury auto market will truly meet each other and bring about greater changes.

German luxury cars increase localization investment

Although the other competitors have been left behind, but the three German luxury car brands did not dare to relax. The arms race between each other makes the competition even fiercer. On December 1, 2011, the FAW-Volkswagen Foshan branch was established. Wendun, CEO of Volkswagen Group, personally announced that the first models of the Foshan plant were the Golf 7 and the Audi Q3. It is reported that the Foshan plant will be put into production in 2013, the first phase of production capacity of 300,000, FAW-Volkswagen and Audi brands are 150,000. The next day, the domestic X1 debuted at the BMW Brilliance West New Factory in Brilliance. The BMW Brilliance Xixi new plant will be put into production in early 2012, with the first phase of an annual production capacity of 100,000 vehicles. The BMW X1 is the first production model for the new plant. On the same day, Beijing Benz also held a downline ceremony for GLK.

It is both a coincidence and an inevitable choice to announce its own new factory and new model strategy at the same time. In fact, as early as the middle of last year, FAW-Volkswagen General Manager An-Tie achieved a high profile and Audi's production capacity will reach 700,000. At the time, Audi was only ahead of BMW's 19,000 vehicles in the cumulative sales for the first five months due to Audi's capacity transformation. This phenomenon has led to speculation in the industry that "BMW is expected to overtake Audi in the year." However, after the capacity transformation, Audi once again took a clean ride.

With the imminent completion and production of the BMW Brilliance West New Plant, the localization of BMW Brilliance also began to accelerate. In fact, among the “big three” luxury brands, the localization of BMW Brilliance is the slowest. After the joint venture of BMW Brilliance in 2002, the factory had a capacity of 30,000 vehicles. As the joint venture parties have not been convinced, until 2009, the new factory still does not have the following, after the production line transformation, production capacity from 30,000 to 44,000. However, under the compulsion of competitors, at the end of 2010, Brilliance and BMW signed a memorandum of capital increase and expansion at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. They plan to invest RMB 5 billion in Shenyang to build a new factory, which will bring the total capacity of BMW Brilliance to 300,000. At the same time, Beijing Benz will also invest RMB 30 billion during the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” period, from the current 100,000 to 300,000. In addition, a 500,000 engine plant will be built, making Daimler the world's first joint venture engine plant.

Behind the expansion of production capacity is the more frantic growth plan for the German luxury car brand in the Chinese market. Audi will achieve an average growth rate of approximately 25% within three years. The number of dealers will exceed 500 and cover the second and third tier cities. BMW plans to achieve the goal of selling over 2 million cars worldwide and 400,000 vehicles in China in the near future. In the 2015 plan, China’s sales are locked at 300,000.

Japanese luxury cars join domestic camp

At the same time as the Ashkenazi luxury car increased its localization investment, the Japanese luxury car brand Infiniti also started the process of localization. Compared with Lexus' indecision on domestic issues, Infiniti appeared decisively more. As early as last June's "power88" Nissan new mid-term business plan, Ghosn proposed that Infiniti should account for 10% of global luxury car sales, reaching 500,000 vehicles. "Infiniti's future development strategy will depend on the growing demand for luxury vehicles in China, India and Southeast Asia, while Hong Kong, China, will be able to better leverage its regional strengths."

On November 1st of the same year, Nissan announced that it will establish the global headquarters of Infiniti, its luxury car brand, in Hong Kong, China. The headquarters will be officially launched in April 2012. The next day, the "Infiniti will be domestic" news headline of the major automotive media. Despite Infiniti’s urgent response, no decision has been made regarding the production of Infiniti in China. However, people in the industry generally believe that Nissan chose to establish Infiniti’s global headquarters in Hong Kong, China, strongly releasing the signal that Nissan will produce domestic Infiniti.

On November 24th, the domestic signing ceremony of Infiniti's settlement in Dalian was held quietly. The party secretary of Liaoning Province Wang Min, Governor of Liaoning Province Chen Zhenggao and Dongfeng Motor Company Chairman Xu Pingyi attended the signing ceremony. However, all this was carried out in a very low-key manner and no information was disclosed to the media. Only local media in Liaoning reported on the 23rd that Liaoning officials met with the senior management of Dongfeng Motor.

The completion of the site selection means that Infiniti’s domestic curtain has officially opened. Informed sources said: "Because some domestic details and related procedures have not been completely completed, so domestic issues are carried out in secret. Now the site is set, and soon will release information." It is reported that Infiniti will rely on the domestic framework of Dongfeng Nissan. Next, similar models made by Audi were adopted and Infiniti’s independent business unit was established and put into production in 2014.

The extent to which localization will increase Infiniti’s sales and brands is currently unpredictable. But what is certain is that both Infiniti and Lexus have stepped up the pace of chasing the German luxury car brand. Lexus said that based on sales of 55,000 vehicles in 2011, it will increase by 50% in 2012 and reach 100,000 in 2013. This "magnificent" ambition is extremely inconsistent with Lexus's low profile, and it also illustrates from the side that the Japanese luxury car brand wants to make a difference in the Chinese market.

Third-line luxury car brand eager to settle in China

The strong growth of China's luxury car market has made the brand of luxury cars that has not settled in China swiftly eyed. Car brands including Jaguar Land Rover and Subaru are seeking homegrown possibilities. “The talks on joint ventures in China are still in full swing.” In mid-December 2011, Jaguar Land Rover invited numerous mainland media to Hong Kong to announce the granting of exclusive rights to Yingzhijie in Hong Kong to determine the long-term strategic cooperation relationship. Land Rover China implemented Vice President Hu Bo said that at present, China has become the third largest market for Jaguar Land Rover in the world and the fastest growing market. China’s strong market performance has further increased the confidence of UK headquarters in increasing its investment.

People in the industry believe that Jaguar Land Rover has Hong Kong as the “bridgehead” of the Chinese market and its intention to accelerate the development of the mainland market is very clear. Earlier, Jaguar Land Rover executives once said that Jaguar Land Rover plans to invest 100 million pounds in China to build a new plant with an annual output of 50,000 cars. Once a suitable partner is found in China, the 100 million pound project will start immediately. According to recent news, Chery has signed a memorandum of understanding with Jaguar Land Rover to report 50,000 domestically produced programs to relevant national authorities for approval.

According to the latest data, in 2011, Jaguar Land Rover's sales in China exceeded 42,000 for the first time, and the year-on-year increase of 61% was ahead of the average for the luxury car market. Among them, Jaguar's annual sales in China increased by 123% year-on-year, and 5,976 vehicles were delivered. Land Rover delivered a total of 36,087 vehicles in China, an increase of 54% year-on-year. In the dealer network, as of the end of 2011, Jaguar Land Rover has increased the number of authorized dealers in China to 113. In July last year, "Airborne" to Jaguar Land Rover China as the president of Gao Bo said that Jaguar Land Rover will continue to increase its efforts to expand the network of dealers in China this year.

People in the industry believe that the mad expansion of the dealer network is to pave the way for domestic production. "Domestic contains many complex problems in it. Once there is accurate information, it will be announced at the first time." Gao Bo said frankly, "To achieve localized production in China is our important development goal. Once we confirm the implementation of this plan, we will We started investment and construction of human resources and infrastructure to achieve the same quality of the products we deliver in China and the quality of cars delivered by our UK headquarters."

Like Jaguar Land Rover, Subaru, which is owned by Japan's Fuji Heavy Industries, has been actively seeking to accelerate localization, and its scandal is also Chery. Previously, it was reported that Subaru and Chery had already set up a factory in Dalian and obtained approval from the relevant state authorities, but the condition was: “The vehicles produced must have the Chery logo, and the sales are also placed on Chery’s existing dealer network. “Subaru President Ji Yongtai said recently that Subaru will continue to implement its five-year development plan and plan to start production in China by 2016. "In 2016, global sales reached 900,000 vehicles, of which, the sales target in China is 180,000 vehicles."

For China's "golden everywhere" market, it is clear that all luxury car brands are reluctant to absent and hope to find more gold and silver jewelry. So, is it possible that the traditional model of the German Troika dominates the world? Will the result of a knife-edge meet the Chinese luxury price drop sharply? We will wait and see.