Danwei’s Beijing offices are on Jinbao Street (金宝街).
“Jinbao” means “golden treasure”, a tacky new name with no history: the street is the brainchild of real estate developer Chen Lihua, who is the subject of the chapter titled “The Rich Lady” in Out of Mao’s Shadow, by Philip P. Pan.
Jinbao Street is an avenue created after the destruction of a swathe of alleyways and traditional courtyard housing just east of the Wangfujing shopping district. While Wangfujing has been a shopping district since the Qing Dynasty and caters to ordinary people’s tastes and budgets, Chen Lihua’s plans for Jinbao Jie were to transform it into a super luxury street.
The street is rather unprepossessing, but it has already become a destination for high rollers. The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Beijing headquarters are on the street, and there’s a seven storey mall that contains only stores that sell luxury brands. But the most noticeable products on sale on Jinbao Street are obscenely expensive cars.
Danwei recently spoke to some salespeople in some of the stores. This is what they told us.
Aston Martin
Price range of cars in store: 2.8 – 5.2 million yuan
More than ten cars sold per month
A new car will stay in the store for as little as 1 to 2 days or as long as 2 to 3 weeks. Most customers are from Beijing, Shenyang
Lamborghini
Price range of cars in store: 3.48 to 7 million yuan
70-80 sold per year
Age range of customers: Most customers are below the age of 30, but they have customers aged up to 55.
Jinbao Car Plaza
All cars on show are large SUVS: Land Rover (1.5 million yuan); Mercedes Benz (2.6 million yuan); Lincoln: (1.78 to 1.88 million yuan)
Three to five cars sold per month
Customers are men aged 30-50.
FFF Automobile
Pagani cars that cost 18 to 26 million yuan
Fewer than 10 per year sold.
Bentley
Price range of cars in store: 3.58 to 6.38 million yuan
More than 30 sold per month
Customer range 18 to 60 (one car in the store had just been sold to an 18 year old).
Ferrari and Maserati
Ferrari 3.7 to 8 million yuan; Maserati 2.11 to 3.12 million yuan.
Rolls Royce
4.18 to 11.8 million yuan
300 sold per year
Customers are age 30 and up.
BMW
Price range: 1.6 to 3 million yuan
Customer are mostly age 30-40.
Research by Lucy March and Inhwa Chung, top image by Jonah Kessel, bottom image by Banyue.
Links and sources
China Vitae: Chen Lihua
Baidu Baike (Chinese): Chen Lihua
The Financial Times: Chinese dominate list of richest women
The Wall Street Journal: Behind China’s Luxury-Car Boom