Rolls-Royce’s new sales race to record in 2022

Rolls-Royce on Monday reported record sales in 2022 despite an average price tag of about $534,000 (about R9.1m) for its luxury cars and a drop in Chinese demand, with orders stretching into 2023.

The British carmaker, which began as Rolls-Royce in Manchester, England nearly 120 years ago and is now owned by Germany’s BMW, said it sold 6,021 cars in 2022, up from 5,586 in 2021, which was also a record year.

Rolls-Royce’s sales were led by the Americas, with the US remaining its top market with about 35% of sales. In China, the carmaker’s second-largest market, coronavirus-related lockdowns led to a “single-digit drop” in sales.

CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös said in an online presentation that this decrease was offset by growth in other markets.

“Our order book stretches far into 2023 for all models,” Müller-Ötvös said. “We haven’t seen any slowdown in orders.”

Rolls-Royce said pre-orders for its fully electric Spectre, due to go on sale at the end of 2023, had exceeded all expectations.

The CEO said the growth forecast for 2023 came despite Rolls-Royce halting sales in Russia, which typically accounted for 250 to 300 units per year, in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine last February.

Müller-Ötvös said the luxury brand’s bespoke, customised approach had led to “ever more imaginative, personal and technically demanding” orders from customers.

Reuters