The first Beijing International Auto Show opens to the public on Saturday. Uniquely the new showcase event, which is set to slot into the Chinese calendar in the alternate year between the city's bi-annual motor show, has attracted all the important European, American, Japanese, Korean and Chinese car manufacturers. Ferrari though will be the star of the show, as the Maranello-based sports car maker is giving the new 599 GTB Fiorano sports car its Asian debut on its stand where it is lining up alongside the Formula 1 single-seater in which Michael Schumacher won the last Chinese Grand Prix.

The new 599 GTB Fiorano has given Ferrari's sales operation in China a further boost. This is a rapidly growing market and the Prancing Horse brand has doubled its sales there during the last twelve months. Thanks to a first rate sales and assistance network comprising a total of thirteen dealerships and eleven service centres located in China's main cities, Ferrari saw the number of cars sold in the country rise from 62 in 2005 to more than 120 in 2006. This dynamism should see China become one of the marque's top five markets within the next two to three years. Currently the United States, Germany, Britain, Italy and Japan are its largest markets.
 

To support the development of the Oriental markets, Ferrari has opened a new Asia-Pacific Sales Division which controls the twelve markets managed through importers, including Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Taiwan and Brunei, as well as China where Ferrari is present via a directly controlled joint venture. The exceptional potential of these areas has been confirmed by the recent opening of a large number of major dealerships and assistance centres in Sydney, Hong Kong, Seoul and Toyko as well as in Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xiamen and Beijing in China.

At the same time the new Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano sports car continues its global roll out at pace: in September it made its French debut at the Paris Mondial de l'Automobile, following on with its Australian, South American and South African debuts last month, while it arrived in Turkey a fortnight ago.