Power struggles at the Beijing auto show
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Auto Battles Commence
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Over the last decade, collaborations between luxury brands and contemporary artists have gone beyond mere artistic partnerships towards a new kind of luxury branding.
PARIS – Art and fashion have always developed side by side, for fashion, like art, often gives visual expression to the cultural zeitgeist. During the 1920s, Salvador Dalí created dresses for Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiapparelli. In the 1930s, Ferragamo’s shoes commissioned designs for advertisements from Futurist painter Lucio Venna, while Gianni Versace commissioned works from artists such as Alighiero Boetti and Roy Lichtenstein for the launch of his collections. Yves Saint Laurent’s vast art collection, recently auctioned at Christie’s in Paris, testified to his great love of art and revealed the influence of a variety of artists on his own designs.
In the 1980s, relationships between luxury brands and artists were advanced when Alain Dominique Perrin created the Fondation Cartier. In the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, a book marking the foundation’s 20th anniversary, Perrin says he makes “a connection between all the different sorts of arts, and luxury goods are a kind of art. Luxury goods are handicrafts of art, applied art.”
The Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemparain building in Paris
Power struggles at the Beijing auto show
China’s market for luxury autos is unlike any in Europe or North America, observed Ian Robertson, chairman of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars in a recent interview. It’s not just a question of taste and style; there are major regulatory challenges to contend with.
But these trials have not staved off Robertson, or the brigade of other luxury auto executives who have tentatively thrown down their gauntlets ahead of Auto China 2010, which opened at the weekend. Sales might lag behind those in the West, but it’s clear that the upper echelons of car manufacturing are stepping up their game. This will not be music to the ears of Audi, whose 20-year reign over the Chinese luxury market looks certain to be assaulted from multiple angles, namely by Daimler and BMW brands.
In Beijing, BMW will unveil an extended 5 Series, while Mercedes is set to debut its new longer E Class, both specifically created for the Chinese market. The extended wheelbases aim to tempt China’s wealthy, chauffeur-reliant population. Meanwhile Bentley has enacted the most blatant charm offensive. The carmaker’s Continental GT Design Series China comprises two new Continentals with custom options tailored to the tastes of Chinese consumers and unavailable elsewhere.
But wooing the Chinese hasn’t come without a cost. According to a Bloomberg report, BMW’s 7-Series, with a 1,355,000 yuan ($198,500) base price, is nearly three times the price of the US version. Audi’s A4 in China is 39% more expensive than the US starting price, while the Mercedes C-Class begins at 348,000 yuan ($51,000), making it 51 % more expensive than in the US.
Sources
Luxury Insider – 22 April 10
Business Week – 21 April 10
Reuters – April 22 10
