The Phantom limousine has “re-established Rolls-Royce exactly where it ought to be – at the top of the super-luxury segment”, chairman and chief executive Ian Robertson said at the Geneva motor show.
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“In the history of this industry, no car has ever sold in such numbers at this price level and the Phantom has this top end of the market to itself. There is no competitor of any significance in this industry and sales last year were the highest for Rolls-Royce in 15 years,” he claimed at the presentation of the 101EX coupe concept.
“Our second model – the extended wheelbase Phantom – was launched in Asia Pacific and the Middle East in November last year. We planned to sell five and in fact sold 35 – virtually all of which were air-freighted to eager customers. Next month this model is launched in Europe and although it will only ever be sold in small numbers, it is an important addition to our offering,” Robertson added.
He said Rolls-Royce was looking forward to launching its new convertible worldwide and noted that trial production is already under way at the company’s Goodwood plant in southern England.
The new car is closely based on the 100EX ‘experimental convertible’ shown at Geneva in 2004.
“The reaction from potential customers has already been so strong that we are running out of build slots. Many of these customers already own a Phantom, but a significant number have not owned a Rolls-Royce before,” Robertson said.
“As we had hoped, this advanced interpretation of the Rolls-Royce design has caught people’s imagination and is drawing new admirers to the brand.”
