Maserati dealer closes in Beijing over ‘high rents, slowing demand’
Other luxury car brands finding rents too high in the centre of the capital, according to newspaper report
A Maserati showroom in a financial district of Beijing has closed down as rising rents have put pressure on the dealer amid slowing sales, according to a newspaper report.
The luxury car showroom opened two years ago in Financial Street, but is now empty with signs saying it is available for rent, the Mirror Evening News said.
A representative of Beijing Heroauto, the dealer which ran the showroom, said: “The main reason is the rent in that area is too high.”
Limits on the number of car registration plates issued in the capital had also reduced demand, the person was quoted as saying.
The dealer, owned by Hong Kong-listed Harmony Auto, is the second authorised Maserati dealer in Beijing.
An unnamed luxury car dealer told the newspaper that the closure of the Maserati showroom was not an isolated incident in the sector.
“More and more luxury car dealers would rather close their showrooms in the city centre as they have found that these kind of stores can help very little in boosting sales and the cost is a big burden,” the dealer said.
Jinbao Street in the Dongcheng district of the city once housed showrooms for many luxury car brands including Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Lamborghini.
The report said some had moved, but Ferrari and Maserati showrooms remained open.
Beijing’s measures to limit car licence plates and the central government’s anti-corruption campaign have taken a toll on luxury car sales, according to Yan Jinghui, a deputy manager at an automobile market in Beijing.
Car dealers have had to adjust their strategies and stop blind expansion to survive, according to Yan.
Super luxury car brand sales turned sluggish in 2013 with Lamborghini’s takings in China falling 16.7 per cent while Ferrari’s dropped 29 per cent on the previous year.
