Distributors and retailers from throughout China gathered in Beijing to meet with 21 SEMA-member companies that were participating in the first SEMA China Business Development Conference. The hotel-based program held in Beijing in September was built around a series of one-on-one meetings with pre-selected Chinese buyers who traveled to the event from cities throughout China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Ha'erbin in the far north, Guangzhou in the south and Hubei in the center of the country. [Read more]

Twenty-one SEMA members just returned from Beijing where they participated in the inaugural SEMA CIAPE China Business Development Conference. Each SEMA member participated in pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings with Chinese distributors and retailers from throughout China.

Subaru is a popular brand for modification in China, says Liu Qingfeng, owner of the online aftermarket company carnet.com.

“We found that about 40% of Subaru consumers seek high performance products,” he said. Subaru owners are also enthusiastic car club members; Liu reaches them through those clubs.

The Subaru brand is thriving in China—sales in the first seven months of 2010 rose 78% on-year to 31,234 units, according to J.D. Power and Associates. The best selling model was the Forester SUV at 20,124 units. The Outback was a distant second with sales of just more than 6,000 units.

Private passenger-car sales only took off in China around 2001. Initially, the government was the main consumer of vehicles of all kinds. Private car ownership was out of the reach of most Chinese.

BMW expects its sales in China in 2010 to grow by 30% to 120,000 units. Mercedes-Benz aims to sell more than 100,000 passenger vehicles in China in 2010, the vice president of sales and marketing for Mercedes-Benz Cars said in April. Audi, the top-selling luxury brand in China, is on course to sell more than 200,000 units there in 2010.

J.D. Power and Associates forecasts that China’s light-vehicle market will hit 15.8 million this year, up 20% over 2009. That’s nearly one-quarter of global sales. In contrast, the U.S. market will only grow 12% to 11.7 million, forecasts J.D. Power.

With all the news about Chinese workers striking against Honda suppliers, you probably know that Honda-brand cars are on the road in China. What you might not know is that non-Chinese Asian brands accounted for 25% of the light-vehicle market in China in 2009.

Several trends in China have converged to boost the market for turbochargers. The first is well-known—the market is growing like gangbusters. Light vehicle sales in the first five months of 2010 rose by 53% compared to the same period in 2009, according to J.D. Power and Associates.

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The short history of China’s automotive modification industry gives foreign brands a leg up on local competitors, said Liu Qingfeng, owner of a business-to-business website selling imported products. He is optimistic about the future for foreign brands in China, especially those that are technology-driven.