06 Oct 2011 Focus on China

Peugeot will arrive at the final round of the ILMC already title winners, so what is there left to play for? The answer is 'very much' because of the importance of having a victory in China for Audi and Peugeot.

Photo : ZHUHAI (CHINA), 1000 KM DE ZHUHAI, 7 NOV 2010. Buy winning the race, Peugeot have won over the Chinese  public.

Since the announcement of calendar 2011, the Audi and Peugeot have repeatedly stated, "After Le Mans, Zhuhai is the most important race of the season." And for good reason: the number of cars on the roads of China passed the 100 million mark last month, and nearly 9 million registrations have been recorded since the beginning of the year!

In the general euphoria, Audi has positioned itself as European leader with 28,000 cars sold in August alone against 18,500 in Germany! Peugeot intends to take advantage of the popularity of their rivals to increase its profile in a country where the top five cars imported are from Germany. The French manufacturer suffers from a lack of popularity because only 30% of the population knows of the existence, against almost 100% in France! So there is still much to do, and to win against Audi would be extremely beneficial for their brand image. In contrast, the Germans will have to retain their hold on the larget market in the far east.

See you November 12th!