Luxury car owners 76% men

　　Volvo drivers most educated, Land Rover least: survey

The average age of China's luxury car owners is only 33.5 years old and 76 percent of them are male, according to a report released on Wednesday.

The report, from the Shanghai-based Hurun Research Institute, also found that the average family income of premium car owners in China is around 1.05 million yuan ($171,033) each year, and nearly 10 percent of them have spent more than three years overseas.

The Institute surveyed 800 car owners of eight popular luxury brands in China: Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, Volvo, Land Rover, Cadillac and Infiniti.

The report also studies the attributes associated with each brand. It found that Mercedes-Benz owners report the highest household assets at 11.3 million yuan, while Infiniti owners have the lowest average wealth at 6.44 million yuan.

Mercedes-Benz drivers are generally considered successful and rich entrepreneurs, it said.

Volvo owners report the highest education level and Land Rover owners the lowest. Volvo owners are mostly "low-profile" professionals, the Hurun report said.

In addition, a higher percentage of Audi owners are government officials, while BMW and Land Rover owners are more associated with the "new rich" group who are more eager to show off their wealth, the report said.

For premium car owners, Lamborghini, Ferrari, and BMW are the three brands that could most represent luxury auto marques.

The report also found that 80 percent of premium car owners considered safety the most important factor when making car purchases. While male car owners pay more attention to factors like price, horse power and fuel consumption, women attach more importance to the exterior of a car, it said.

China is now the world's largest auto market. Though growth of the premium segment is slowing down due to the Chinese government's ongoing anti-extravagance campaign, it is still growing much faster than the industry average, experts said.

By the end of 2013, the number of China's rich people worth over 10 million yuan surpassed 1.09 million, up 3.8 percent year-on-year, and the number may reach some 1.21 million people in three years, said the report.

Beijing, Shanghai and South China's Guangdong Province have the highest number of people worth more than 10 million, it said.

The three German brands Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz still dominate the sector with around 70 percent of the market, experts estimate.

But rising powers such as Volvo, Jaguar Land Rover and Infiniti are also upping their ante in China, with the three brands all having just started local production recently.