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Lamborghini racing into Shanghai
6/6/2005 16:31

Jane Chen / Shanghai Daily news

Eyeing the rapidly growing number of wealthy people here, Italian-based luxury race car maker Automobili Lamborghini SpA, is racing into China with a plan to open its first store in Shanghai in September, the National Business Daily reported, citing Automobili Lamborghini's Shanghai sales supervisor He Donglai.
Automobili Lamborghini is still looking for the location for the store and the likely place will be on the prime business area Huaihai Road, He said.
The store will be up to 300 square meters and cost over 3 million yuan (US$362,757).  The company hopes the store will enhance its brand awareness in China because, according to He, Lamborghini is a brand still little known to most Chinese people. 
Lamborghini has sold five cars so far since it entered China last year with two models: Gallardo and Murcielago.  The company expects the sales this year to reach 20, or 1 percent of Automobili Lamborghini's global sales, He noted.
He seemed optimistic about this goal, referring to the fast growth of China's wealthy.
According to a 2004 survey of China's rich published by British researcher Rupert Hoogewerf, over 90 percent of the country's top 100 rich people are male.
That's good news for Lamborghini, which, He says, is dubbed man's favorite toy.