{"id":12182,"date":"2012-02-02T01:02:13","date_gmt":"2012-02-02T01:02:13","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2012-02-03T04:02:38","modified_gmt":"2012-02-03T04:02:38","slug":"Western-brands-aim-for-China-s-Dragon-riches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=12182","title":{"rendered":"Western brands aim for China’s ‘Dragon’ riches"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s meant to bring riches and power befitting an emperor, but if Western luxury brands have their way the Year of the Dragon will cost their wealthy Chinese customers a fortune instead.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Dragon is the most favorable and revered sign in the 12-year Chinese zodiac.<\/p>\n

The dragon is a traditional Chinese symbol of royalty, fortune and power, and the Year of the Dragon usually sees a spike in marriages and births.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Western manufacturers of luxury goods, from cars to watches and chocolates, are hoping the new year also brings a spike in sales to help offset soft demand in Europe and the United States.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“The dragon means good fortune, power and success,” says Torsten Muller-Otvos, chief executive at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the German-owned automaker which has launched a line of limited edition “Dragon” Phantoms.<\/p>\n

The edition, available in two models, features hand-painted golden dragons on the side panels, hand-embroidered dragons on the leather headrests and illuminated door treadplates with the words “Year of the Dragon 2012”.<\/p>\n

The car, which starts at 7.4 million yuan (US$1.2 million) in China, was sold out within eight weeks of its launch in August, and the firm says it is now looking at extending production.<\/p>\n

China overtook the United States to become Rolls-Royce’s largest market in 2011, with the Chinese market accounting for about one-third of its record 3,538 cars sold worldwide.<\/strong><\/p>\n

China is the world’s fastest-growing market for luxury products thanks to years of stellar economic growth which has created a new class of super-rich consumers that are changing the face of Asia.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Forbes magazine said China had a total of 146 billionaires last year – up 14 percent from 2010, and second only to the United States with 413.<\/p>\n

Italian fashion house Versace’s Dragon Year gambit is a specially designed jewel handbag, which comes with a gold handle and traditional golden dragon drawings on a black body. The bag is limited to 210 pieces and sold exclusively in Asia.
\n
\nThe bag is priced at HK$31,800 (US$4,094), while an even more exclusive red python skin version will set you back HK$45,000. Versace says the product is “testament to the brand’s focus on the Asian market”.<\/p>\n

French high-end accessory maker ST Dupont has rolled out pens and lighters adorned with gold-plated dragons decorated with 88 diamonds – the number eight is another auspicious sign for Chinese. It’s not something genuine buyers would ask, but if you must know they are priced at between HK$300,100 and HK$390,700.<\/p>\n

Swiss luxury watchmaker Piaget meanwhile has launched 24 Dragon watches with a price range from HK$193,000 to HK$16 million.<\/p>\n

“The legendary Dragon and Phoenix collection is to celebrate the coming Year of the Dragon, and as a tribute to the rich culture proffered by Chinese heritage to the world,” Piaget Asia Pacific president Dimitri Gouten told AFP.<\/p>\n

“The response to the collection has been very good as we are seeing important sales in Asia but also in our key boutiques in Europe and the US.”<\/p>\n

Analysts say the special Dragon releases are as much about marketing foreign brands to the Chinese as making direct sales.<\/p>\n

“It shows the commitment of the brands to China, something consumers do care about when choosing which brand to buy year round,” Shanghai-based McKinsey analyst Yuval Atsmon said.<\/p>\n

McKinsey has forecast luxury sales in China to grow 18 percent annually to $27 billion by 2015, or more than one-fifth of the global luxury market, overtaking Japan.<\/p>\n

Source AFP<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s meant to bring riches and power befitting an emperor, but if Western luxury brands have their way the Year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u-113x150.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","large":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-highlighted-post":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-featured-post-medium":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-featured-post-small":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u-113x90.jpg","colormag-featured-image":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-default-news":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u-113x150.jpg","colormag-featured-image-large":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-elementor-block-extra-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-elementor-grid-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-elementor-grid-small-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-elementor-grid-medium-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"Admin","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/53e6cdc30765aade0129f85e5aeb50124b1d3f5bb9a70373be31e4eb328371e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"It’s meant to bring riches and power befitting an emperor, but if Western luxury brands have their way the Year","magazineBlocksPostCategories":[],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":117,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":3,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg",113,170,false],"medium":["https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg",113,170,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u-113x150.jpg",113,150,true]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"Admin","author_link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?author=1"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/53e6cdc30765aade0129f85e5aeb50124b1d3f5bb9a70373be31e4eb328371e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/72448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}