Luxury car sales in China may reach 1.1 mln units by 2015

Luxury cars’ market share in China will surge significantly, J.P. Morgan predicted in a report released recently. Moreover, J.P. Morgan and J.D. Power both believe that China’s luxury car sales are likely to reach 530,000 units this year, and more than double to 1.1 million units by 2015, Shanghai Securities News reported Friday.

Year to date, luxury brands like the Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Toyota Crown all had very good performance in China’s auto market. In the January to August period, sales of Mercedes-Benz cars grew 137% from a year earlier to 87,400 units. In August alone, the brand sold about 13,340 units, up 119% year on year.

China has become the largest market for Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedans that sold 14,040 units in August and 2,430 units in the first eight months of this year, a jump of 306% from 2009. Sales of the Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedans reached 3,026 units last month and 26,280 units in the first eight months.

German automaker BMW delivered a total of 103,239 vehicles to customers worldwide in August, an increase of 12.5%. In the first eight months, 106,000 BMW and Mini vehicles were sold in China, outstripping the company’s annual total sales in the Chinese market in 2009.

Toyota Crown’s monthly sales have surpassed 5,000 units in China, and it will no doubt attain its annual sales target of 60,000 units. If the goal is achieved, the brand’s sales for 2010 will be more than 76% higher than 2009 when the Crown sold only 34,000 units, FAW-Toyota’s Vice President Gao Fang said earlier.

Shanghai GM’s luxury brand Cadillac reported sales of 1,624 units for August, up 178% year on year, with cumulative sales reaching 10,445 units, up 157% from a year earlier.

Volkswagen’s luxury brand Audi also posted strong sales growth in China. Despite a 12% drop in August sales worldwide, the brand still sold 22,358 units in the Chinese market, up 8.9% month on month and 67.5% year on year.

In January-August 2010, sales of the Audi brand totaled 152,800 units in China, a rise of 63.26% compared to the same period last year, with cumulative sales reaching 726,600 units, up 17.9% year on year.