The semiotics of luxury mobility in Chinese culture and the implications for the design and branding of international corporations

British luxury automotive (ILA) corporations have not, as yet, fully grasped the cultural preferences of the Chinese consumer. Branding is an inescapable part of modern design, consumption, global markets, and indeed culture. It creates and sustains competitive advantages for firms and finally delivers profits. This research is conducted by understanding the cultural meaning of “luxury mobility” in China via semiotics. The research objectives are to investigate this phenomenon from a semiotic perspective and explain how the cultural meanings of “luxury mobility” and consumer preferences of automobiles are connected in China. This research chooses semiotics as the primary analysis method as semiotics’ emergent role, a study of the sign, in the design and branding field. This research will identify the syntagmatic structure of mobility and useful paradigm of luxury artefacts associated with mobility in China through semiotics analysis. Finally, the study will develop the semiotics-based practical guidelines for ILA corporations’ design and branding strategies seeking to either break into or improve their existing position in the Chinese automotive market.