Skip to main content

Luxury is back: Rolls-Royce rides global sales boom

Sales of Rolls-Royce luxury automobiles are up, everywhere. There were 1,592 Rolls-Royce Motor Cars assembled, sold and shipped from England to buyers worldwide in the first six months of 2011, up 64% compared with year-ago numbers. It's the best start to a model year for Rolls since 2003.

There is strong interest in Phantom and Ghost (pictured) models and significant demand for new Rolls-Royce orders from all regions of the world, officials said today.

There was a sales uptick in every region, with the most intense interest coming from the Asia Pacific area, where purchases up a whopping 170%. In Germany, sales bumped up 60% and in the Middle East and U.S., sales rose by more than 40% each.

A sizable number of customers are new. Most of them are asking for Phantom and Ghost models; 80% of Ghost buyers are new to Rolls-Royce.

“This is an excellent half-year result and demonstrates the confidence that our customers have in our company and our products,” Torsten Müller-Ötvös, chief executive officer for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, told reporters today.

“The first six months of the year have also seen Rolls-Royce celebrate our unique heritage, with the centenary of the Spirit of Ecstasy, and demonstrate our innovation, with the Phantom Experimental Electric, 102EX. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars continues to operate as the world’s foremost ultra luxury car manufacturer.”

Separately, Rolls-Royce announced today it has created the Phantom Spirit of Ecstasy Centenary Collection to mark the 2011 centenary of the Spirit of Ecstasy. It will manufacture 100 Centenary Collection cars with detailed Bespoke features.

For 100 years, Rolls' Flying Lady has been iconic for "luxury, refinement and effortless motoring enjoyment." The centenary is also being marked with events that include the July 15 "100 Motor Cars for 100 Years" at Goodwood in West Sussex for a parade lap of 100 Rolls-Royce motor cars from 1911 to present.

The Phantom Experimental Electric cited by Müller-Ötvös is the world’s first battery electric vehicle in the ultra-luxury segment. It was unveiled at the Geneva International Motorshow in March. The 102EX is just a test car for now and was made to allow Rolls-Royce to gather feedback to determine its future viability.

You can reach TorqueNews.com's Hawke Fracassa at [email protected].

Image source: Wikipedia

Comments