Mao’s Old Limo Brand Is Now Outselling Rolls-Royce In China Two To One
Hongqi’s Golden Sunflower luxury brand is outselling Rolls-Royce in China by two to one. Patriotic buying trends encourage wealthy customers to embrace domestic luxury brands. Honqqi’s expansion plans target Malaysia, Russia and other emerging premium markets. For decades, the formula for displaying automotive success in China was fairly simple. Buy a VW if you could afford a basic car, a Mercedes if you were doing well, a Bentley if you were doing very well, and a Rolls-Royce if you wanted everyone to know it. Now, a growing number of wealthy buyers are apparently choosing something with its roots much closer to home. That something is Hongqi, the luxury division of state-owned automaker FAW. Best known for building limousines used by Chinese political leaders from Chairman Mao to Xi Jinping, the brand has spent the last several years reinventing itself as a serious player in the premium, luxury and ultra-luxury segments. Als...