US luxury car brands

China is the world’s largest car market, accounting for about 25 per cent of global luxury car sales. The premium market in China is dominated by the Germans with an 80 percent share across Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen. But the US is beginning to challenge.

General Motors already sells more cars in China than it sells in the US. And Mary Barra, GM’s CEO has said, “Our joint ventures in China are working to boost production capacity by 30 per cent to more than five million units annually by 2015.” Cadillac is already a profitable business in China – the company expects to sell 70, 000 units in China this year. (The tremendous success of Buick in China is not mentioned here because it is not a luxury car).

And Ford planted its luxury flag in October by launching the Lincoln brand in China with a mid-sized sedan and a compact SUV especially designed for the market. In early November, Lincoln opened its first dealerships in Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou. Source: South China Morning Post;