Rolls-Royce aims to sell 20% more cars

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars aims to sell more than 100 cars in India this year as demand for super premium vehicles rises. Rolls-Royce, owned by the BMW group, sold 80 cars last year. Logging 600% growth over 2009, sales should cross the three-digit mark in 2011, says CEO Torsten Muller-Otvos.

“India is very important to us...we look forward to a tremendous future for us here,” he said, adding the country is the second-fastest growing market for the company after China.

In 2010, China grew almost at the same pace as India though sales in China were 600 units. Rolls-Royce sells the Phantom and Ghost brands in India, priced upward of Rs2.5 crore and Rs3.5 crore, respectively.

Muller-Otvos said the company—which has two dealerships in India—plans to open two more. He said there has been good demand for Rolls-Royce cars in India and the company’s factory at Goodwood in the UK is geared up to meet orders.

“But we are not a sales volume driven company so we don’t build cars on stock. We build cars only when customers come to us....4-6 months is the time it takes between a customer placing his order and delivery of our cars.”

Muller-Otvos said Rolls-Royce will unveil an electric version of its Phantom model, ‘102EX’, at the Geneva Motor Show next month to test if there is a market for an ultra-luxury electric car.  “This is a one-off car, which is drivable. The idea behind it is to explore more alternative drive trains. It is a market research tool,” he said.  The electric Phantom will be taken around the world for test drives to get feedback from customers, he said.

“Around a couple of 100 customers will get a test drive, but this is not a production model,” he said.