Inchcape has officially opened its new Lexus retail centre in Shaoxing, China today.

China is one of the fastest growing markets in the world for automotive sales, growing by 24% in 2007 and has overtaken Japan as the second largest car market in the world.

The 103,000 square foot site now sits alongside Inchcape's Toyota retail centre which opened last year.

Andre Lacroix, chief executive of Inchcape, said: "With this new centre, we now have critical scale within this regional market to drive the expansion of our Chinese operations and take advantage of the opportunities that the high growth Chinese market presents."