{"id":88861,"date":"2015-02-04T17:14:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-04T22:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=88861"},"modified":"2015-02-05T00:25:53","modified_gmt":"2015-02-05T05:25:53","slug":"rolls-royce-expects-modest-growth-thanks-to-bespoke-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2015\/02\/rolls-royce-expects-modest-growth-thanks-to-bespoke-line\/","title":{"rendered":"Rolls-Royce Expects Modest Growth Thanks to Bespoke Line"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rolls-Royce's new Phantom "Nighthawk" is expected to help the luxury automaker to grow its sales in 2015.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fresh off another year of record sales, Rolls-Royce expects to see a modest increase in volume this year \u2013 largely due to its Bespoke program, which offers buyers an almost limitless range of customized options for the British brand\u2019s models.<\/p>\n

The popularity of customization is becoming a real selling point for luxury vehicle makers. In fact, BMW\u2019s super luxury division thinks that the percentage of orders for customized, tailor-made cars will grow steadily closer to the 100% level in the coming years.<\/p>\n

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Automotive Insight!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rolls has not only been adding more models to its line-up, but also offering unique, limited-edition variants \u2013 such as the Phantom Drophead Coupe Nighthawk it introduced in Phoenix this week. Said to be \u201cinspired by stealth technology in modern aerospace development,\u201d only nine Nighthawks will be produced.<\/p>\n

It is a trend of the times: super-rich clients often want to stand out. Those who are going to spend (much) more than a quarter million dollars on their new vehicles frequently desire a model that is unique. With Bespoke, Rolls can offer them a slew of choices, including 44 exterior colors and more than a dozen shades of high quality leather.<\/p>\n

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Rolls-Royce expected the number of customized vehicles it produces to to eventually rise to 100%.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

”A record number of customers spend one-on-one time with our design consultants to personalize their cars, ” said CEO Torsten Muller-Otvos.<\/p>\n

Already, around 90% of the vehicles leaving its Goodwood, U.K., plant are getting the Bespoke treatment. How much room for growth there is remains to be seen, said Gerry Spahn, spokesman for Rolls-Royce North America.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is clear though, that for us growth will mainly come from Bespoke. You name it, we can do it. Under one condition: we will not compromise safety,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, a customer ordered a Phantom with 446 diamonds in its roof liner and door panels. The special version is believed to have cost between $2 million and $3 million. Another order was for a \u201cfleet,\u201d with a value of some $30 million. However, Rolls was not prepared to mention the number of cars involved.<\/p>\n

Last year, BMW\u2019s flagship division delivered 4,063 cars, with showrooms closing deals worth some 1.2 billion British pounds, or about $1.82 billion. It was the fifth year in a row with increased sales \u2013 thanks to the introduction of the Wraith coupe and the Ghost II \u2013 and the best in the 111-year history of the British brand, an increase of 12% over 2013.<\/p>\n

(Luxury, premium car sales predicted to slow in China. For more, <\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The one downside was a slide in the Chinese market because of the government crackdown on conspicuous wealth. In the longer term, Rolls expects sales in China to recover, and to grab the number one position again. But for now, North America is the best-selling market, at 30% of its global sales.<\/p>\n

(<\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>\u00a0for details about BMW’s plans to block hackers.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Rolls-Royce does not provide market figures, but it is estimated that 20% of their cars are sold in Europe, nearly 20% in the Middle-East, more than 15% in China and the balance of 10 to 15 percent in the APAC countries.<\/p>\n

(To see more about Hyundai’s sketchy tease of the new Tucson, <\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the years immediately after its takeover by BMW, Rolls had only a limited supply of products, primarily the Phantom sedan. It has been rapidly expanding that line-up and is working on new models, including a drop head convertible based on the Wraith.<\/p>\n

A decision on a super-luxury SUV is expected to be made this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fresh off year of record sales, Rolls-Royce expects to see a modest increase in volume this year \u2013 largely due to its Bespoke program, which offers buyers an almost limitless range of options for the British brand\u2019s models. To see more about Rolls, go to TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":88865,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88861"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88861"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=88861"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=88861"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=88861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}