Chinese roads are about to look a little more opulent as the iconic sports car manufacturer Lamborghini has announced its foray into the world’s most populous country. The carmaker will open a flagship dealership in Shanghai’s commercial district next week, perhaps to be followed by nationwide showrooms next year. Company heads say they want to tap into the world’s fastest growing vehicle market. They might also want to ease open the purse strings of the growing number of affluent Chinese and entice them to splash out on something a little racier than can usually be seen on China’s streets. The whole line-up of Lamborghini’s models will be shipped to Shanghai, from the lowest-priced Gallardo, which is a snip at US$180,000 to the top of the line models, priced at US$330,000.

A company spokesman said entry into the buoyant Chinese market would beef up profits, which had been lagging due to softer sales in Europe and North America, and help weather sluggish sales in other areas. He said China was “the next best area for high-end vehicle growth”. The number of Chinese billionaires has more than tripled in the past year and there are increasingly large amounts of disposable income among the nouveau riche. Lamborghini deemed the present economic climate an opportune time to exploit an obvious propensity for the Chinese to splurge on expensive, Western luxury goods. It follows other luxury carmakers Ferrari and Bentley into the world’s largest marketplace. The Lamborghini’s roar is set to drown out the traditional ring of the bicycle bell.

WARM-UPS

1. LUXURY: You are super rich. You love expensive, luxury products. Walk around the class and chat with other “super rich” people about your expensive tastes. What luxury goods do you buy? What are your favorite brands and makers? How many cars do you have?

2. MARKETPLACES: In pairs / groups, give an assessment of the economy and marketplace for your country or for the country in which you are studying. Look at the regions below. What potential do they have for companies to increase sales of their products? What kinds of companies might succeed in each area?

China South America North America Western Europe Eastern Europe

Africa Russia India South-East Asia The Middle East

3. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words are most interesting and which are most boring.

Chinese roads / opulence / icons / sports cars / Lamborghini / Shanghai / fast growing markets / profit / sluggish sales / billionaires / nouveau riche / bicycle bells

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

4. OPULENCE: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word “opulence”. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

5. LUXURY CARS: How difficult do you think it is to sell luxury cars? Ask your partner(s) what they like most / least about these cars. After you have finished, discuss what points sales people might need to focus on with potential customers.

Lamborghini Rolls Royce BMW Ferrari

Mercedes Jaguar Aston Martin Volvo

6. THE CHINESE MARKET: How far do you agree or disagree with these opinions? Talk about them with your partner(s).

1. The Chinese market will soon be the most important in the world.
2. The Chinese market needs much greater regulation by the WTO.
3. China’s economic activity will destroy the planet.
4. Demand in China will help all other economies in the world.
5. There will be a mass migration to China of people looking for jobs.
6. Chinese will become the international language of business.
7. China will replace the USA as the land of opportunity.
8. Chinese luxury sports car brands will emerge and be better than Italian ones.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	Sports car maker Lamborghini is to be listed on China’s stock market.	T / F
b.	Lamborghini wants to tap into the world’s fastest growing car market.	T / F
c.	Lamborghini wants rich Chinese to race their cars on China’s streets.	T / F
d.	The price of the cheapest Lamborghini has been cut to US$180,000.	T / F
e.	Entry into the buoyant Chinese market might beef up profits.	T / F
f.	The number of Chinese billionaires has quadrupled in the past year.	T / F
g.	Lamborghini hopes to exploit rich people’s propensity to splurge.	T / F
h.	Lamborghini will sell limited edition bicycle bells to poorer Chinese.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

a.	opulent	newly rich
b.	foray	bargain
c.	tap into	strengthen
d.	splash out	exploit
e.	snip	slow-moving
f.	beef up	well-to-do
g.	lagging	inclination
h.	sluggish	falling
i.	nouveau riche	entry
j.	propensity	spend

3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

a.	Lamborghini has announced its foray	market would beef up profits
b.	open a flagship dealership	out on something a little racier
c.	ease open the purse strings of the	disposable income
d.	entice them to splash	sales in Europe and North America
e.	top of the line	growing number of affluent Chinese
f.	entry into the buoyant Chinese	into the world’s most populous country
g.	lagging due to softer	economic climate an opportune time
h.	increasingly large amounts of	models, priced at US$330,000
i.	Lamborghini deemed the present	for the Chinese to splurge
j.	exploit an obvious propensity	in Shanghai’s commercial district

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words in the column on the right into the gaps in the text.

Lamborghini to enter Chinese market

Chinese roads are about to look a little more ________ as the iconic sports car manufacturer Lamborghini has announced its ________ into the world’s most populous country. The carmaker will open a flagship dealership in Shanghai’s commercial district next week, perhaps to be ________ by nationwide showrooms next year. Company heads say they want to ________ into the world’s fastest growing vehicle market. They might also want to ease open the ________ strings of the growing number of affluent Chinese and ________ them to splash out on something a little racier than can usually be seen on China’s streets. The whole line-up of Lamborghini’s models will be shipped to Shanghai, from the lowest-priced Gallardo, which is a ________ at US$180,000 to the top of the ________ models, priced at US$330,000.		entice tap foray line opulent purse followed snip
A company spokesman said entry into the ________ Chinese market would beef up profits, which had been lagging due to ________ sales in Europe and North America, and help ________ sluggish sales in other areas. He said China was “the next best area for high-end vehicle growth”. The number of Chinese billionaires has more than ________ in the past year and there are increasingly large amounts of ________ income among the nouveau riche. Lamborghini deemed the present economic climate an ________ time to exploit an obvious propensity for the Chinese to ________ on expensive, Western luxury goods. It follows other luxury carmakers Ferrari and Bentley into the world’s largest marketplace. The Lamborghini’s ________ is set to drown out the traditional ring of the bicycle bell.		tripled roar softer opportune weather buoyant splurge disposable

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Lamborghini to enter Chinese market

Chinese roads are about to look a little more _________ as the iconic sports car manufacturer Lamborghini has announced its _______ into the world’s most populous country. The carmaker will open a __________ dealership in Shanghai’s commercial district next week, perhaps to be followed by nationwide showrooms next year. Company heads say they want to ____ _____ the world’s fastest growing vehicle market. They might also want to ease open the _______ _________ of the growing number of affluent Chinese and entice them to splash out on something a little _______ than can usually be seen on China’s streets. The whole line-up of Lamborghini’s models will be shipped to Shanghai, from the lowest-priced Gallardo, which is __ _____ ___ US$180,000 to the top of the line models, priced at US$330,000.

A company spokesman said entry into the ________ Chinese market would beef up profits, which had been ________ due to softer sales in Europe and North America, and help ________ sluggish sales in other areas. He said China was “the next best area for _____-____ vehicle growth”. The number of Chinese billionaires has more than tripled in the past year and there are increasingly large amounts of _____________ income among the nouveau riche. Lamborghini deemed the present economic climate an _____________ time to exploit an obvious propensity for the Chinese to splurge on expensive, Western luxury goods. It follows other luxury carmakers Ferrari and Bentley into the world’s largest marketplace. The Lamborghini’s roar is set to ________ ____ the traditional ring of the bicycle bell.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘flag’ and ‘ship’.

• Share your findings with your partners.
• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the gap fill. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. STUDENT “CHINA MARKETPLACE” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about China’s emergence as a major global marketplace.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

opulent flagship tap strings splash line

beef sluggish tripled disposable propensity roar

DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
2. What do you know about Lamborghini?
3. What do you think about the emergence of China as a major economic power?
4. What do you think the world economy will look like 20 years from now?
5. What was the Chinese economy like 20 years ago and what has changed to turn the economy around so dramatically?
6. How will China change the world economy?
7. Do you think luxury carmakers will be able to keep up with demand in China?
8. What else could Lamborghini do to weather sluggish sales?
9. Do you think Lamborghini’s Gallardo car is a snip at $US180,000?
10. What car would you really like to buy if money was no object?

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. What do you think about what you read?
3. Do you think China will become as rich as America?
4. Do you benefit from the booming Chinese economy?
5. What are the world’s most buoyant economies?
6. Do you think sluggish sales in Europe and America will pick up?
7. What is the market like for high-end vehicles in your country?
8. Do people have lots of disposable income in your country?
9. What kinds of things would you like to splurge on if you became a nouveau riche?
10. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
2. Was there a question you didn’t like?
3. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
4. What did you like talking about?
5. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

ECONOMISTS: You work for a consultancy company that specializes in prediction the impact China’s runaway economy will have on the world economy. In pairs / groups, make predictions for different areas of economic activity and indicators. Agree on the following areas:

AREAS	PREDICTIONS
The price and supply of oil
World migration
The strength and importance of China’s currency
The American economy
Pollution
The Chinese language
Chinese made goods
Bicycles

• Change partners and show each other your predictions.
• Tell each other what you think the likelihood is of these predictions coming true.
• Present your predictions to the rest of the class.
• In pairs / groups, discuss the predictions most likely to come true. Are they good or bad for you, your country and the world economy?

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on Lamborghini. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson. Did you all find out similar things?

3. THEN AND NOW: Make a poster profiling the Chinese economy 30 years ago and the Chinese economy today. Show your posters to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all find out similar things?

4. THE FUTURE: Write an article based on your predictions for the growth of the Chinese economy. How will China’s development impact the world economy? Show what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all write about similar things?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. F

b. T

c. F

d. F

e. T

f. F

g. T

h. F

SYNONYM MATCH:
 

a.	opulent	well-to-do
b.	foray	entry
c.	tap into	exploit
d.	splash out	spend
e.	snip	bargain
f.	beef up	strengthen
g.	lagging	falling
h.	sluggish	slow-moving
i.	nouveau riche	newly rich
j.	propensity	inclination

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	Lamborghini has announced its foray	into the world’s most populous country
b.	open a flagship dealership	in Shanghai’s commercial district
c.	ease open the purse strings of the	growing number of affluent Chinese
d.	entice them to splash	out on something a little racier
e.	top of the line	models, priced at US$330,000
f.	entry into the buoyant Chinese	market would beef up profits
g.	lagging due to softer	sales in Europe and North America
h.	increasingly large amounts of	disposable income
i.	Lamborghini deemed the present	economic climate an opportune time
j.	exploit an obvious propensity	for the Chinese to splurge

GAP FILL:

Lamborghini to enter Chinese market

Chinese roads are about to look a little more opulent as the iconic sports car manufacturer Lamborghini has announced its foray into the world’s most populous country. The carmaker will open a flagship dealership in Shanghai’s commercial district next week, perhaps to be followed by nationwide showrooms next year. Company heads say they want to tap into the world’s fastest growing vehicle market. They might also want to ease open the purse strings of the growing number of affluent Chinese and entice them to splash out on something a little racier than can usually be seen on China’s streets. The whole line-up of Lamborghini’s models will be shipped to Shanghai, from the lowest-priced Gallardo, which is a snip at US$180,000 to the top of the line models, priced at US$330,000.

A company spokesman said entry into the buoyant Chinese market would beef up profits, which had been lagging due to softer sales in Europe and North America, and help weather sluggish sales in other areas. He said China was “the next best area for high-end vehicle growth”. The number of Chinese billionaires has more than tripled in the past year and there are increasingly large amounts of disposable income among the nouveau riche. Lamborghini deemed the present economic climate an opportune time to exploit an obvious propensity for the Chinese to splurge on expensive, Western luxury goods. It follows other luxury carmakers Ferrari and Bentley into the world’s largest marketplace. The Lamborghini’s roar is set to drown out the traditional ring of the bicycle bell.

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