A saleswoman displays a gold bar for the Year of the Snake in Yiwu, Zhejiang province. Luxury goods makers incorporate snake motifs into their products to win more Chinese buyers. Zhang Jiancheng / For China Daily

The growing importance of the Chinese market is prompting international luxury brands to incorporate Chinese elements into their designs.

Snake motifs are popular this year because 2013 is the Year of the Snake, according to the Chinese zodiac.

Many luxury brands have incorporated snake shapes into their latest collections, including jewelry, watches and vehicles.

Vacheron Constantin, a Swiss manufacturer of prestige watches, launched its Legend of the Chinese Zodiac 12 collection in January. A watch with a snake surrounded by leaves is on the dial, the first watch in the limited-edition collection of 12 timepieces.

Qeelin, the Hong Kong-based jewelry brand owned by PPR Group, has said its latest collection, Lucky 12, is also inspirited by the Chinese zodiac. Special items for the Year of the Snake include rings and necklaces made with gold and diamonds. The snake-year specials are priced at about 10,000 yuan ($1,600).

Mercedes-Benz (China) Ltd, the German luxury automaker, started selling the 2013 New Year Edition of its smart cars marked with a snake-shaped logo, designed by a Chinese jewelry designer Wan Baobao, on Jan 18.

The New Year Edition consists of only 666 smart cars costing 128,888 yuan each.

Chinese consumers are now the largest luxury consumption group in the world.

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