The economic slowdown has slammed the brakes on the fortunes of high-end car makers around the globe. BMW, the world’s largest luxury-maker, which posted a 19.5 percent drop in first-half unit sales, is leaving the prestigious Formula One motor-racing series this year. Porsche is racked with insider battles—including the recent departure of its CEO and CFO—as its merger with Volkswagen nears completion, helped along by a cash injection from the Middle East. Audi, a unit of Volkswagen, reported first-half profit down 25 percent from the year before. Results are also lackluster for other high-profile brands like Rolls-Royce, Jaguar and Saab (which General Motors is aiming to sell by the end of the year).
While the rest of the world stalls, China is rapidly becoming the most important market for high-end auto makers. Luxury-car sales grew 7 percent in China in the first half of 2009 at a time when the rest of the planet was shunning luxury purchases.
Dieter Zetsche, the chairman of Daimler, which sells Mercedes-Benz and Maybach cars said, "Now, the global high-end auto market’s center of gravity is moving eastward to China."
Jochen Goller, Vice-President of Marketing for BMW in China said, "It’s just a question of time before China will be a luxury-car market on a par with the U.S."
Dietmar Voggenreiter, president of Audi’s China operations, says, "In the long-term, I believe China will be the biggest Audi market in the world."
So do you think China, which many believe will be the world's superpower of tomorrow, can save the world's luxury car industry?
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