Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz aims to double annual sales in China to 300,000 cars by 2015, its country head said Tuesday, as the luxury brand eyes a growing market from younger Chinese customers.
While the overall auto market in China - the world's biggest - is slowing, the luxury segment is set to grow faster than the mass car market, according to Klaus Maier, president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz China.
Mercedes-Benz sold 147,670 units in the nation last year, a jump of 115 percent from 2009. Sales rose 86 percent to 43,990 units in the first quarter this year.
"The luxury market is big enough for everyone," Maier said in an interview at Auto Shanghai 2011, noting that a strategy aimed at young people is helping the car maker become the fastest growing luxury car brand in China.
About 40 percent of Mercedes-Benz's sales in China now comprise A-Class, B-Class, C-Class, GLK and smart models - a lineup Maier called the "young Mercedes-Benz cars."
"There is a huge opportunity for us to go to the smaller segments," he said.
The flagship S-Class accounted for 60-70 percent of Mercedes-Benz cars sold in China in 2006 to buyers who were mainly "successful in their fields who were looking for status, safety and the most luxurious cars," Maier said.
In China, buyers of the S-Class average 44 years old while those for the B-Class luxury sports tourer average 32, younger than in Europe, he said.
Maier also said the car maker plans to sell an electric version of its smart car in China "pretty soon" but he didn't give a timetable.
Mercedes-Benz, which counts Audi, BMW and Lexus as its main competitors, increased its market share of the four luxury brands in China to 25 percent last year from 12 percent in 2007, he said.
Asked about Volvo Cars, owned by China's Geely Holdings, eying 20 percent of the premier car market by 2015, Maier said "we take them seriously especially when they set up local production."
