The Hurun Research Institute today released Luxury Car Brands in China 2014, a 37-page report comparing the images of eight luxury car brands in China: Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Lexus, Volvo, Land Rover, Cadillac and Infiniti. 

Authority on China’s Wealthy releases Luxury Car Brands in China 2014, 37-page comparison between brand images of Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Volvo, Lexus, Land Rover, Cadillac, Infiniti

Hurun Research carried out the survey across ten cities in China, surveying 100 car owners from each of the eight brands between February and October 2014. The cities were Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Kunming and Chengdu. Within each brand, Hurun Research surveyed a minimum of ten car owners for each main product. The car owners surveyed each had 1.4 cars on average.

Overall, the findings showed that luxury car owners in China are young, highly educated and with a high income. The average age of the car owner was 33.5yrs, 76% were male and some 10% had spent at least three years overseas.

Their annual family income was CNY 1.05 million (equivalent to US$175,000) on average. Mercedes-Benz owners had the highest income, Infiniti owners the lowest; BMW owners had the highest percentage of female owners, whilst Cadillac had the highest percentage of male owners; Volvo owners had the highest education levels, whilst Land Rover owners had the lowest; Audi owners had the most government officials, whilst Land Rover had the most entrepreneurs. Lexus had the least distinct ownership group.

Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report, said: “Spending money on a nice car is the first outward sign of success for many Chinese. The objective of this report is to highlight the brand image of these luxury cars in China.”

This is a brief summary of the more detailed Chinese-language press release. Whilst care has been taken to ensure discrepancies were kept to a minimum, if any differences do arise, the Chinese press release prevails.

The report’s key findings included:

Wealth

China today has 2.9 million dollar millionaires, and 1.09 million individuals with a personal wealth of CNY 10 million (equivalent to US$17 million). Beijing, Guangdong and Shanghai are the cities with the highest number of millionaires, according to the Hurun Wealth Report 2014.  See http://www.hurun.net/CN/ArticleShow.aspx?nid=4557 for more info.

The average monthly income of the luxury car owners was CNY 30,000 with their household income reaching CNY 88,000. 30% of households had a monthly income of CNY 100,000 a month or more. The average personal wealth of the households was CNY 8.8 million. 10% had more than CNY 10 million.

The interests of the luxury car owners ranged from travel to good food to family activities and sports. Female car owners preferred spas, beauty care, art and had an interest in the environment.

Car owner image

When surveying the car owners’ social status, car owners were asked to choose from 18 descriptions, such as government employee, public servant, entrepreneur, nouveau riche, second generation, etc…; for car owners’ attitude and values, car owners were asked to choose from 31 descriptions, eg enjoys keeping fit, enjoys life, successful, etc…; for car owners’ character, car owners were asked to choose from 24 characteristics, eg show-off or reserved, etc…; for car brand images, respondents were asked to choose from 45 characteristics, eg fashionable, easy going, etc…  These descriptions and characteristics, 118 in total, came from four in-depth panel interviews with car owners carried out in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou.

The image of Mercedes Benz and Volvo owners were very similar to the way the car owners viewed themselves, whilst the images of BMW and �" to a lesser extent �" Land Rover were quite different to how these car owners viewed themselves.

Mercedes Benz owners were considered to be entrepreneurs, cultivated, successful. This was very much in line with how their owners saw themselves.

Whilst BMW owners considered themselves to be small and medium sized business owners or senior management of multinationals with a positive attitude to life, living life to the full and being relatively discreet, there is a disconnect with the image they portray of nouveau riche, materialistic and show-offs.

Land Rover owners were considered to be nouveau riche, young second generation and show-offs.  Land Rover owners consider themselves to be professionals, senior management in multinationals and self-made.

Volvo owners were considered to be valuable members of society, low-key, behaving in a morally upstanding manner, family-oriented.  Of the eight car brands surveyed, Volvo car owners came closest to their image.  Additionally, they considered themselves to be returnees.

Audi owners were considered to be government officials, mature and with experience.  This image was the most defined image of all the eight brands. Audi owners also considered themselves to be white-collar workers with a positive attitude to life and to live life to the full.

Cadillac owners had the image of being white collar workers, mature and successful, whilst Cadillac owners considered themselves to be senior management of multinationals.

Infiniti owners had the image of being from the second generation, film stars, highly active, whilst Infiniti owners considered themselves to be white collar workers.

The image of Lexus owners did not fall into a distinctive class, whilst Lexus owners considered themselves to be white collar workers, professionals and senior management from state owned enterprises.

Buying and usage trends

Respectability, stylishness and brand awareness were considered the three most important characteristics of a luxury car brand. After that came technology and brand culture. For luxury car owners, Lamborghini, Ferrari and BMW most represented these qualities.

Safety was most important for 80% of luxury car owners, followed by comfort and brand. Relatively speaking, men considered price, petrol consumption and power most important, whilst women considered the outward appearance and feeling of luxury most important.

Buying motives.  For 50% of respondents, it was ‘my old car is broken or getting old’ that drove them to buy a new car.  Interestingly, there was many impulse buyers, with 44% buying after seeing a car at an exhibition, 36% seeing a new car ad, or after a test drive.

Information channels.  The internet and car experience centers were the most popular ways to get information on a luxury car.

Relationship with luxury car. Although 30% considered their car to be simply a transportation tool, 36% considered it a friend, 16% a lover or wife and 15% a war horse.

Driver experience. The convenience the car brought was the most important driver experience.

Engine size. 40% like to drive cars with a 3.0 size engine or more.

Driving frequency.  60% drove every day, 24% 4 to 6 times a week.

Impact of negative publicity. 80% had heard about negative publicity surrounding luxury car owners. BMW attracted the most negative publicity, whilst Volvo had the least negative publicity.

www.hurun.net