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Welcome to Moscow, city of the gold Rolls-Royce




By Isabel Gorst

There are more and more superrich people in Russia, and they have expensive tastes. Last year they spent $2.5bl on imported, new luxury cars. They want the most exclusive cars models that stand out in a traffic jam.

One foreign vehicle* salesman says: Russia is a place where the rich find it quite normal to buy two or three cars at once, even if they are just flashy, summer toys.

DaimlerCrysler has a lot of rivals in that niche market, but its Russian prospects still look extremely bright. Last year, the company celebrated a record 92-per-cent increase in Russian sales. It put a new Mercedes model encrusted with Swarovski crystals on display in its Moscow showroom. The ice-blue crystals add 300,000 to the price of the Mercedes SL500, one of the fastest sport cars in the world.

In Russia, the most expensive cars sell best and Russian big spenders do not ask for credit!

Alexandra Melnikova, an automobile analyst, says Russians love of flashy cars is no different from that in other emerging economies** such as China, where the way you look is very important. Spending is in, and saving is out. A luxury car has become absolutely necessary for Russian businessmen in a market where, she says: It is important to compete on the same level.

If you drive an of-the-peg luxury car, not enough people will look at you. Nearly all of Rolls-Royces Russian clients insist on something custom-made. The first gold Rolls-Royce is already in Moscow!

FINANCIAL TIMES

vehicle* -

emerging economy**-

10 Read the article again and choose the correct answers to complete these sentences.

1 The number of very rich people in Russia is ..

a) going down b)increasing c) stable

2 Last year, DaimlerChryslers sales in Russia were the year before.

a) the same as b) lower than c) higher than

3 According to Alexandra Melnikova, the situation in Russia is .. that in China.

a)similar to b) different from c) better than

4 Many Russina businesspeople want a custom-made car because..

a) they all dream of a gold Rolls-Royce.

b) they want to compete on the same level as the Chinese.

c) standard luxury cars are not impressive enough.

GRAMMAR FOCUS 1 COMPARATIVES AND SUPERLATIVES

 

i We use the comparative form of an adjective to compare two separate things.

e.g. Argentina has a bigger economy than Chile. (note the use of than)

 

ii We use the superlative form to compare one thing in a group with all the others.

e.g. Brazil has the biggest economy in Latin America. (note the use of the)

 

iii The comparative and superlative form of an adjective depends on whether it is short or long (the number of syllables is the word) and its spelling.

 

Short adjectives adjective comparative superlative
regular cheap small cheaper smaller the cheapest the smallest
ending in one vowel + one consonant: double consonant hot big hotter bigger the hottest the biggest
ending in y: change to i   dry drier the driest
irregular forms good bad far better worse farther/further the best the worst the farthest/the furthest  

e.g. UBS is a large bank, although HSBC is larger than UBS. Citigroup is the largest bank in the world.

Long adjectives modern interesting more/less modern more/less interesting the most/the least modern the most/the least interesting

e.g. Selko watches are expensive, although Rolex are more expensive than Selko. Patek Philippe are the most expensive watches in the world.

 

iv We can also make comparisons with as as and not as as.

e.g. Paris is as expensive as London.

Madrid is not as big as Paris.

 

v We can describe a trend using -er and -er or more and more.

e.g. Its harder and harder to make a profit in the music business.

Its more and more difficult to make a profit in the music business.

 

 

ASSIGNMENTS

A Write the missing letters to make the comparative form of ten adjectives:

1 small _ _ 5 young _ _ 8 happ _ _ _
2 larg _ _ 6 new _ _ 9 earl _ _ _
3 eas _ _ 7 big _ _ 10 quiet _ _
4 hot _ _    

B Correct the mistakes in these sentences:

1 It is more harder to break into export markets than home mrkets. harder

2 China is a more big market than Japan.

3 Our market share is more low than it was last year.

4 The rate of the inflation is more bad this month than it was last month.

5 This months sales are more high than last months.

6 The Asian market is more good than the European market for rice.

 

C Complete these conversations using the superlative form of the adjective.

1. This is a good product.

Yes, its the best product on the market.

2. This is an expensive hotel.

Yes, its .. place in the city.

3. She is a very popular manager.

Yes, shes head of department in the company.

4. This is a cheap product.

Yes, its product in the catalogue.

5. This is a very cokpetitive market.

Yes, its . market in Asia.

6. This is a bad year.

Yes, its . year in the last ten years.

 

D Complete the sentences with words from the box.

easiest more most younger worse a the easier than difficult

1 I think the easiest mobile to use is the Pronto X.

2 Is South Korea a.................... competitive market that Japan?

3 It is more . to break into export markets than into home markets.

4 Its not just another good product its .. best product on the market.

5 Out customers are and richer than our competitors customers.

6 Pete is one of the helpful colleagues I have.

7 Sales this month are a bit better they were last month.

8 Sales are not going up. We need to find . better way of entering that market.

9 The design of this model is not very attractive, but its to use than the RL202.

10 The rate of unemployment was last year than this year.

C Complete theis article with the appropriate form of the words in brackets.

PROFILE

I opened a hairdressing salon last year. The most important1 (important) thing is to think about your target customers*. My hairdressing salon is located in my parents hotel. My customers are _____________ 2 (old) and ______________ 3 (rich) than my main competitors. They like excellent service and a cup of coffee. My main competitors customers are _______________4 (young) than mine. She offers a _____________5 (cheap) service than I do. However, my salon is _____________6 (comfortable) than hers. My ______________7 (exciting) customer is a famous model.

target customers * - (, , )

D Complete the text by putting the adjectives in brackets into the correct form. There are seven comparatives, four superlatives and one answer that needs as.





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