ITT Corp sees potential business opportunities in China’s policies for the development of electric vehicles. The company announced that it will invest USD10 million in a braking technology production base and a research & development (R&D) center in Wuxi in Jiangsu province. Luca Savi, President of the company’s Motion Technologies Division, said the sum is just the initial investment and more funds will be made available as the project develops. ITT closely cooperates with BYD Co in the electric-vehicle business. “We will promote our charging-connector products and solutions in China and abroad because there is a continuing demand for electric autos,” said Denise Ramos, ITT’s CEO and President. Bill Taylor, President of ITT Interconnect Solutions, said the company will promote charging equipment in accordance with Chinese standards in the second quarter of this year, cooperating with BYD. The company has seen total annual revenue of USD2 billion over the past two years, 5% of which came from its businesses in China, according to Ramos.

Volkswagen said its sales on the mainland and in Hong Kong climbed 18% last year to a record, led by deliveries of Lavida and Sagitar and demand for Audi luxury cars. The VW group, which also owns the Skoda and Bentley brands, sold 2.26 million vehicles in the two markets. General Motors, the biggest foreign carmaker in China, increased sales in the nation by 8.3% last year to a record 2.55 million vehicles. China is now the largest market for VW, its premium Audi brand and luxury Lamborghini. “Although we expect tougher conditions for the car industry to come, we want to maintain our leading market position in China,” said Karl-Thomas Neumann, Chief Executive of VW’s China operations. “We see a great potential for an expansion in China’s rural areas where millions of people will benefit from better mobility.” Growth in vehicle demand is expected to accelerate this year to about 9.5%, or about 15.87 million units, from the 5.2% pace last year. Car sales rose 33% in 2010 and 53% in 2009. The German carmaker sold 1.72 million of its main Volkswagen brand cars in China, an increase of 14% from a year earlier. This amounts to 34% of the brand’s global deliveries of 5.1 million vehicles last year. Audi increased sales on the mainland and in Hong Kong by 37% to a record 313,000 vehicles last year, the company said. It became Audi’s largest market globally last year. Audi boosted deliveries of imported cars such as the Q7 sport-utility vehicle (SUV) and the Audi A8L. The carmaker also sold more domestically produced A4L and A6L cars, whose wheelbases were extended to meet the needs of chauffeur-driven Chinese buyers. VW, which has joint ventures with FAW Group and SAIC Motor, was the first foreign carmaker allowed to produce cars in China. The company has said it would add a seventh factory in China as part of plans to invest €14 billion to expand production and models by 2016, the South China Morning Post reports.

Jaguar Land Rover, the British car maker owned by India’s Tata Motors, aims to double its sales in Hong Kong over the next five years with an eye on boosting its profile both locally and in the mainland market, according to Joseph Lau, Hong Kong Brand General Manager of distributor Inchcape. “Hong Kong is a unique market because it is not very big … but there are so many affluent Chinese visitors coming here,” said Lau. “They see what is popular among Hong Kong people and view those brands as high quality. That way they get automatic recognition on the mainland.” Inchcape is using local launches of new Jaguar Land Rover models to also target prospective mainland buyers. The company hopes to double local sales of JLR vehicles in the next five years, up from an expected 135 Jaguar deliveries this year and 250 Land Rover deliveries. The mainland is set to overtake the U.S. as JLR’s biggest market after the UK as early as this year. Land Rover’s mainland sales rose 54% in the first 10 months of last year to 27,761 units, while Jaguar’s rose 91% to 4,382 cars. JLR plans to open 100 Chinese dealerships by the end of the year, up from 80 at the end of October. Demand for some Land Rover models, such as the newly launched Evoque, is such that Chinese buyers ordering a new car may have to wait up to one year for delivery. Inchcape is in the process of spending around HKD2 billion to add 16 new Chinese dealerships by 2016 to the four it now operates there.

General Motors will concentrate on luxury sales in China in the next three to five years as increasing wealth drives demand for premium vehicles. GM plans to expand its Cadillac range to compete for affluent consumers who are buying BMW and Audi cars, according to President Kevin Wale. The company aimed to increase production capacity in the country by as much as 40% in the next two years, he said in Shanghai. “Luxury-car sales will continue to grow faster than the overall passenger car market, driven by increasing wealth,” Wale said. The segment was “a key area of focus” for the company over the next three to five years, he added. GM was pushing to sell more premium cars to meet the next wave of luxury demand from an emerging class of successful entrepreneurs, Wale said. Overall car sales in China might rise between 7% and 10% next year, with demand for trucks and mini-commercial vehicles rebounding from a probable decline this year to expand 5% next year, according to Wale. The market “remained fairly resilient”, he added. China could overtake Germany as the world’s second-largest market for luxury vehicles this year, trailing only the U.S., according to research firm LMC Automotive.

Sparkle Roll, a luxury car dealer, expects the impact of a global economic slowdown on the high-end market to be small, as it believes more Mercedes-Benz and BMW owners will be trading up to pricier brands. Ivan Tong, Chairman of Sparkle Roll, which sells Bentley, Rolls-Royce and Lamborghini brands, said Chinese customers’ demand for super-luxury cars has remained strong. The dealer, which sells luxury brands in Beijing, Tianjin and Dalian, said car sales last month reached a monthly record high of nearly 100 units. Ivan Tong said luxury cars only account for 0.05% of total car sales in China, which is low compared to the developed world. Tong believes the growth potential is huge as Chinese millionaires may purchase more new cars and trade up from their Mercedes-Benz and BMW cars to more high-end brands. Tong said the cars Sparkle Roll sells are priced around CNY3 million to CNY8 million. Most of its customers are mine owners, property developers and senior executives in the finance industry. Sparkle Roll has broadened its luxury business into top-end watches, jewelery and wine. In the six months to September last year, the company recorded a nearly-70% growth in turnover to HKD2.08 billion. Net profit more than doubled to HKD112 million. The car business, which amounts to 94% of its total turnover, grew 67% year on year.