China will overtake the United States as the world's biggest luxury car market as early as 2016, as rising incomes and desire for status boost premium auto brands, a consultancy said.
Global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company said China was already the second biggest market for “premium” cars after the United States, with sales of 1.25 million vehicles last year.China's premium car sales could reach 2.25 million in 2016 and three million by 2020, it added in a report.McKinsey defined the “premium” segment in China as cars costing from 200,000 yuan to 1.2 million yuan (US$32,000 to US$190,000), excluding “ultra-luxury” cars commanding even higher prices.The US market for premium cars was an estimated 1.7 million vehicles last year and was forecast to rise to 2.3 million in 2020, it said. “China is a growing market. People's confidence in the future is very high,” said Sha Sha, a partner at McKinsey and the main author of the report.

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