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 China’s underlying economic growth may have seen the best years, with growth slowing in nine of the last 10 quarters, but car dealerships, packed to the rafters with latest design models of unprecedented variety, continue to attract hordes of willing buyers. A trend which, AID‘s exclusively compiled figures reveal, bodes poorly for most Japanese carmakers, but particularly well for the leading Volkswagen Group and Hyundai-Kia. Excluding all built-up imports, June’s 14.2 per cent jump in passenger car sales brings China’s half-time cumulative car sales total to nearly 7 million units - up 17.5 per cent - prompting widespread upward revisions of generally lower earlier demand forecasts for this year. The economy, the world’s second biggest, may be slowing, but so far at least China’s increasingly affluent and status-conscious middle classes have shown precious little inclination to rein in their spending on gleaming new cars. Moreover, judged from June’s even hotter sales of high-price status symbols from the likes of Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Porsche for instance, China’s nouveau-riche appear keener than ever to flaunt their status by taking conspicuous consumption and ostentation to hitherto unreached new heights MORE LIKE THIS: Crossovers - Universal global bright spot 02 Aug 2013 China turns into JLR ace card 04 Jul 2013 Swept along by US and China’s rich 17 May 2013
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