Covid tells us life’s short... that’s why we’ve sold record 5,586 cars, says Rolls-Royce boss
COVID helped Rolls-Royce sell a record 5,5 6 cars last year as the pandemic made the superrich realise ‘life can be short’.
The luxury marque, whose cars are priced from £233,000 to £432,000, sold the most vehicles globally in its 117-year history.
Chief executive Torsten MullerOtvos said: ‘Many people witnessed people in their community dying from Covid and that made them think life can be short and you’d better live now rather than postpone until a later date. That also has helped quite massively to [encourage people to] invest into what I would call the nice, lovely things in the world.’
The Sussex-based company, owned by BMW, saw sales rise in every region of the world.
German Mr Muller-Otvos explained: ‘It is very much due to Covid that the entire luxury business is booming worldwide.
‘People couldn’t travel a lot, they couldn’t invest a lot into luxury services…and there is quite a lot of money accumulated that is spent on luxury goods.’ Many buyers were adding to their existing Rolls-Royce collections as most owners have more than one.
Soaring sales were ‘driven principally’ by the newest Ghost model, which starts at £233,235 while the Cullinan sports utility vehicle accounted for 30 per cent. Rolls-Royce sold 49 per cent more cars in 2021 than in 2020 – and 461 more vehicles than the previous record in 2019.
Famous Rolls-Royce owners include rocker Rod Stewart, football hero David Beckham and reality TV star Kim Kardashian. Meanwhile, the Queen is said to have three in her fleet. The company’s first fully electric car, Spectre, is due to be delivered in 2023.
‘Luxury business is booming’