German Car Makers Hot on China

While all car makers are interested in China and sales executives begin to salivate when they imagine the vast Chinese populations driving their cars, there appears to be a sudden overwhelming interest in the country by German automakers.

Volkswagen probably leads all foreign car makers in the amount of success it has experienced in China. Some 220,000 VWs were sold in China last year in a market estimated to total 650,000 cars a year. VW admits, however, that competition is getting much tighter from American and Japanese makers and it plans to increase output over the next few years.

Now BMW is reported to be looking at producing cars in China. It s hard to figure how many $30,000 Beemers you can sell in a market that buys 650,000 cars a year, but there are rumors that BMW is in talks with Brilliance China Automotive Holdings to assemble BMWs in China.

But what the heck, if you can sell Beemers in China, why not Porches? That s exactly what the folks in Zuffenhausen are asking and as we write this there are 50 Porsches racing around China trying to drum up some demand. Porsche is looking to double its sales in China over the next year, says a Reuters report. That means it will sell 50 cars in China next year, instead of the 25 it sold this year.