COVID-19 has impeded life unlike anything we have ever seen before, and its impact has been felt far and wide. However, one luxury business executive has said that it was great for business.?
The boss of Rolls-Royce has?said that COVID-19 deaths helped the brand sell a record number of vehicles last year as wealthy motorists splashed out after realising ¡°life can be short¡±.?
The BMW-owned company posted the highest sales in its 117-year history?-?selling 5,586 vehicles in 2021,?The Guardian reported.?
¡°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,¡± Torsten M¨¹ller-?tv?s?The Guardian.?
¡°That has helped Rolls-Royce.¡±?
M¨¹ller-?tv?s also added that travel restrictions due to the pandemic benefitted the carmaker as it forced affluent consumers to stay put, opening up the opportunity to splurge elsewhere.
¡°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," he said.?
He told The Guardian?that sales had risen in every part of the world, a trend that is unusual as it is surprising. The?Greater China and the Americas, though, remained the two biggest markets, each at 30% of sales.
No other manufacturer sold more cars for more than €250,000 (?208,000), he said. The Phantom model was the company¡¯s biggest seller but its Cullinan SUV accounted for 30% of 2021 sales.??
The average age of Rolls customers fell to 43 during the year, which means ¡°for every 60-year-old, you need a client who is 20¡±, he added.??
The brand, which currently sells 12-cylinder petrol engines only, will release its first electric car, the Spectre, late next year, and is preparing to become an electric-only nameplate by 2030.?
Typical Rolls-Royce buyers ¡°don¡¯t have problems with infrastructure,¡± M¨¹ller-?tv?s said, as they are able to charge in homes or offices.??
With the pandemic showing no sign of putting a stop on the spending power of the extremely rich, Rolls-Royce also announced a ¡°coach-built¡± service that will allow devotees of the marque to design their own car over four years.
This will allow them to purchase ¡°something money normally can¡¯t buy but you can get it with us¡±, M¨¹ller-?tv?s said.
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