The off-road Roller, yours for £250,000
Rolls-royce has launched the world’s most expensive 4x4 car, branding it as a “weekend car you can put the kids in” – which retails for £250,000. The car maker says it hopes to kill off the notion that its cars are the preserve of businessmen being driven around town by cap-wearing chauffeurs.
ROLLS-ROYCE has launched the world’s most expensive 4x4 car, branding it as a “weekend car you can put the kids in”.
The luxury car maker has admitted it is hoping the launch of the new “off-road” vehicle will kill off the notion that its cars are the preserve of businessmen being driven around town by capwearing chauffeurs.
Retailing at £250,000, the SUV vehicle has been named the Cullinan, after the world’s largest diamond, which is mounted in the Sovereign’s Sceptre with Cross, part of the Crown Jewels.
Rolls-royce is for the first time targeting a new generation of “ultra-high net worth individuals”, many of whom are young entrepreneurs who made their fortunes in the web and tech industries.
It is expected that the Cullinan will drive down the average age of Rolls-royce buyers by a decade from the current 40-something to wealthy millennials in their early 30s.
“The buyers are younger ones than we have ever had before,” said Torsten Müllerâtvös, chief executive of Bmw-owned Rolls-royce. “It’s because of the changing social demographic. Ultrahigh net worth individuals are getting younger.”
In 2003, the average age of a Rolls-royce customer was 54. This has since been cut to 43 with the current range of cars as the Goodwood-based company introduced sportier models such as the convertible Dawn and Wraith Coupe, as it broke away from its long-standing saloon and limousines.
Rolls-royce, which never gives details about who its buyers are unless they request it to do so, says Cullinan is attracting buyers in their early to mid-30s.
“People are looking for something more relaxed, more casual, that they can put the family in and go anywhere,” Mr Müller-âtvös said. “It’s a Rolls-royce that is usable every day.”
The company currently sells about 4,000 cars a year but the Cullinan is likely to push this figure higher. Analysts at IHS predict the new off-roader could boost the total to 6,000 a year by 2020.
The rapid growth of a new moneyed class in China as that country’s economy surges means that it is poised to overtake the US as the biggest market. China has also fallen in love with SUVS, with them making up more than 40 per cent of the 25million cars bought there last year. Measuring over 17ft long and standing 6ft high, the Cullinan is huge – something important in the Chinese and US markets.
“Size matters to Chinese and US buyers,” Mr Müllerâtvös added.
If, after paying the school fees, you still had a spare £250,000 in your pocket, you might buy a new Rolls-royce Cullinan 4x4. There’s room in the back to drive home a painting from the auction house, the publicity says. It so happens that this week Sotheby’s sold a minor Old Master expected to fetch £20,000 for little less than the Rolls. There was a suspicion that it was by Juan Bautista Maíno, a 17th-century Spanish painter in whom interest is growing. But if it had to be a choice, would you rather spend money on an Old Master or a car? Both are beautifully constructed. Surely it should depend on which you liked more. To buy art as an investment is the trap. Should your confident attribution prove unfounded, down would crash the value – in monetary terms. A Rolls, though, is a Rolls – and you can do more than look at it.