Among them, Nissan Motors chief executive Carlos Ghosn.

"As leaders of the zero emission and EV [electric] cars in the world, we have to bring our technology and bring our products. The Chinese want us to put it under a Chinese name. We selected Venusia, so you're going to see a lot electric cars with Nissan technology coming under the Venusia name," Ghosn said.

Not to be outdone, Europe's largest automaker, Volkswagen, is investing $400 million to build new manufacturing plants in China. And Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche says Mercedes Benz is expanding its lineup to target Chinese buyers.

"First of all there is no stronger brand than the Mercedes brand with the three pointed star. Secondly, we're in the middle of our product offensive, that we'll add 10 new vehicles in our portfolio, plus replacing the ones which exist," Zetsche said.

Despite a slowdown in overall sales from previous years, industry experts say the growing ranks of Chinese millionaires continue to fuel double-digit increases in the sales of sport utility vehicles (SUV's) and luxury automobiles.