Super-luxury car market slows in China

The super-luxury car category witnessed a tough year in the once-heated Chinese market in 2013, as the country's most affluent hesitated to spend extravagantly amid slowing economic growth, the Beijing News reported on Monday. Major high-end automobile makers including Bentley, Ferrari and Lamborghini all posted shrinking sales last year despite their increased promotional effort In 2013, Bentley delivered a total of 2,191 cars to the Chinese market, dropping 3 percent year on year and bucking the company's 19-percent rise globally, according to the newspaper. Likewise, Ferrari sold 554 cars in China, marking almost a one-third decline, while Lamborghini's sales fell 16.7 percent from the figure of 2012 to 267 units, it said. The lackluster performance was mainly attributed to the country's slowing economic growth and the central government's advocacy of thrift. In addition, the competition has become more fierce as nearly all the international luxury car brands have now entered China, a manager from a Maserati outlet in Beijing said. Nevertheless, the potential of the second-largest economy is still highlighted by ultra-luxury makers as the European market remains sluggish and the United States still faces pressure following the withdrawal of quantitative easing. Bentley added 15 auto dealers in the Chinese market last year, while Rolls-Royce developed seven more agencies. In 2013, vehicle sales in China totaled 21.98 million units, marking the country's fifth straight year as the world's largest auto market.