Rolls-Royce plans to open sales office

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars will set up a sales and marketing office in India within a couple of years.

Colin Kelly, regional director, Asia Pacific, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, told Business Standard: " We intend to set up a sales office once the number of our dealers in the country reaches six. This should happen in the next 2-3 years"

Today, the company inaugurated its first dealership in Mumbai, which will be operated by Navnit motors, the exclusive dealers for BMW in the country.

Rolls-Royce is owned by BMW. The company's second dealership in the country is expected to open in Delhi in next 6-12 months. This should be followed by the third dealership in Bangalore.

"As and when the demand for our cars in India grows, we will expand our dealership network in the country. Once we reach a level of say six dealers, we will set up our own sales and marketing offices in India," he said.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Rolls-Royce has sales offices in Japan and China.

The company has sold seven Rolls-Royce Phantom cars in India in 2005. It targets to sell more than 10 Phantoms this year.

The Phantom is priced at Rs 3-5 crore. In 2006, Rolls-Royce sold more than 800 Phantom cars around the globe. Till now the Phantom was distributed in India through BMW dealers.

"India is an important market to us. At the moment, Indian market is on par with Australia and Singapore. With growing economy and increasing number of high networth individuals (HNI) in the country, the potential for growth is huge here ," said Kelly. The company has no specific plans of marketing Phantom.

"Super luxury cars like Phantom is always sought after by HNIs. Therefore there is no need for any specific marketing or promotion module. The market for our cars will grow when people will see more Phantoms plying on the Indian roads," he said.

Rolls-Royce is ready to launch extended wheel base and coupe models. The company is also upbeat on a Rolls-Royce convertible, which is expected to be launched during early next year in the country.

"Convertible is a high selling car for the company. In Japan and China, more than 50 per cent of Rolls-Royce cars sold are convertibles," said Kelly.

The company has made ready its new generation convertible code-named as 101 EX. "We will be exhibiting the model across major auto shows around the globe. Our launch plans of the product would be finalised only after getting a favourable response for the product," he said.