IN 2007, the total sales of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars passed 1,000 units, and within 15 years, the annual volume would steadily grow to reach 6,021 units in 2022. This is the first time in the company’s 118-year history that its sales have exceeded 6,000 in a single 12-month period. The value of Bespoke commissions also reached record levels, while demand for all Rolls Royce models was exceptionally strong, with advance orders secured far into 2023.
The impressive growth – 8% over the 2021 volume – was achieved by sales in almost all regions. The Americas was the largest single region for Rolls-Royce, while Greater China took the second largest number of vehicles. The Asia-Pacific region also achieved higher sales than ever before.
Increased demand for Bespoke services
More important than volume alone, the value of clients’ Bespoke commissions was higher than ever before. But it’s hardly surprising that customers who buy a Rolls-Royce would be being willing to pay an average of around half a million Euros to personalize their car to precise requirements for assured uniqueness.
The Middle East is the marque’s leading region for Bespoke commissions, with many unique creations of particularly extensive and individual personalisation. In 2022, Rolls-Royce opened an invitation-only Private Office in Dubai, the first outside the UK factory, so as to be closer to the marque’s customers. Further Private Offices will be introduced around the world in the coming months and years.
On the way to full electrification
Like many other carmakers, Rolls-Royce is also electrifying and the world has already been given a preview of what its first ultra-luxury electric super coupe will look like. Unveiled last October, the Spectre has already built up a pre-order bank that exceeds the company’s most ambitious expectations. First deliveries will take place in the fourth quarter of 2023 as the marque’s first step towards building only fully-electric cars by the end of 2030.
“As a true House of Luxury, sales are not our sole measure of success: we are not and never will be a volume manufacturer. Bespoke is Rolls-Royce, and commissions were also at record levels last year, with our clients’ requests becoming ever more imaginative and technically demanding – a challenge we enthusiastically embrace,” said Torsten Muller-Otvos, CEO of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
“Of course, this success has not been achieved overnight. In 2023, we mark the 20th anniversary of the Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood, during which time we’ve transformed our business through a long-term strategy based on continuous and sustainable growth, careful management and planning, an unwavering focus on profit and a respectful but forward thinking reinvention of the Rolls-Royce brand,” he said.
“We’ve succeeded because we listen and consistently evolve our products in line with our clients’ tastes and requirements, consciously rejuvenating our brand while retaining our innate exclusivity and rarity. But perhaps most importantly, we have never put style above substance. In terms of technology, quality and luxury, Rolls-Royce still stands, as it has always done, for the very best of the best,” Mr. Muller-Otvos said.