"Represented by Infiniti and Land Rover, the market share of the second echelon will continue to increase in 2015 as they roll out new cars produced in China," he said.

Yan Jinghui, a car sales veteran and deputy manager of Beijing's biggest car market, Yayuncun, said the up-and-coming contenders in the premium segment, such as Infiniti, have invested much effort in brand building to appeal to young customers, which also contributes to their sales growth.

Infiniti's China sales soared by 76 percent year-on-year in 2014 to 30,046 units thanks to both intensive marketing and manufacturing efforts.

"With strong growth in China, we continue our expansion to build Infiniti into a global premium brand," Krueger said. "We have ambitious objectives to become a compelling brand that offers an alternative to the German premium brands."

As the brand gains in popularity in China, the change is increasingly apparent to dealers.

Several dealers in Shanghai said that in previous years, customers often passed by their showrooms without much knowledge of what Infiniti was. Now, however, many come in planning to buy a particular model and speak clearly about its advantages.

For example, previously they had to explain to prospective customers about Direct Adaptive Steering－a world-first steering technology－but now the situation has changed and many buyers are interested in just such technological devices.