Rolls Royce

The British brand, according to an official press release, had its highest-ever annual sales in 2022. It sent out a total of 6,021 cars, the first time in its 118-year history it has exceeded 6000 deliveries in a 12-month period.

This increase is not limited to just one model, although the Cullinan topped the list of the ‘most in-demand Rolls Royce.’ Its Bespoke commission has also received increased patronage, mostly from the Middle East.

Bentley

Bentley’s growth started in 2021 when it delivered 14,659 cars, up from 11,206 cars the previous year. And it did not stop in 2022. With a total of 15,174 deliveries, not only did it smash its 2021 records, but it also created a new a new one: it would be the first time the luxury automaker would surpass 15,000 deliveries in a single year.

Like Rolls Royce, Bentley’s success can be attributed to the Bentayga, its luxury SUV. The highly celebrated model accounted for a whopping 42% of sales, while the bespoke Mulliner programme also contributed to the high numbers.

Lamborghini

A 10% increase in deliveries meant that Lamborghini successfully got 9,233 of its cars to their owners, up from 8,405 the previous year.

In what is now a clear denominator across all luxury auto brands, increased demand for the Urus Super SUV is the major reason for this number.

Porsche

The German luxury brand managed to deliver a total of 309,884 vehicles in 2022 to its customers worldwide, representing a 3% increase from the previous year.

Again, the brand’s SUVs are primarily to thank for this success story: the Porsche Cayenne went out to 95,604 customers, while 86,724 buyers took delivery of their Macans in the same year.

How were luxury auto brands able to record such high sales in 2022?

According to industry experts, recessions or periods of economic volatility cause the rich to store their wealth in alternative assets like autos, jewellery and high-end timepieces to safeguard it against fluctuations. Since these assets tend to hold and even surpass their value over the years, it comes as no surprise that luxury cars enjoyed unprecedented sales in 2022.

Another reason proposed is that an increase in disposable income from the 2020 wealth surge means that the affluent have more than enough money to get themselves whatever they desire, hence the increase in the purchase of luxury items, including cars, which is considered a ‘wise’ way to dispose of extra funds.

In the end, however, it appears that the answer is the principle behind every successful business: give people what they want while communicating your product’s unique and life-changing value, and they would pay you whatever you ask for. In other words, when people can connect real, tangible value to a product, they go all out to get it.

Nearly all the luxury car brands that experienced an uptick in sales/deliveries in 2022 have an SUV in their lineup. Clearly, luxury auto enthusiasts want utility vehicles that marry performance with high-end features, and these brands have successfully delivered.

2022 was clearly the year for luxury car brands and you might be wondering if their winning streak will continue into 2023. It is still too early to tell, but with the demand for luxury EVs rising, and with these auto brands rushing to deliver what is for some their first electric marques, the answer might very well be ‘yes.’

The post Why did Luxury Car Brands enjoy such High Sales in 2022? first appeared on Aspire Luxury Magazine.

The post Why did Luxury Car Brands enjoy such High Sales in 2022? appeared first on Aspire Luxury Magazine.

Rolls Royce is not the first luxury auto brand to have an EV model. BMW has the i-series, and Porsche has the Taycan. But, over the years, the British brand has managed to create truly luxurious and spectacular marques that its entrance onto the EV scene is a big deal, as big as the size of the tyres on the Spectre.

Rolls Royce will have you know that, although it is not the first luxury brand to have a fully-electric model, the idea itself is not s stranger to the brand. In 1900, Rolls-Royce co-founder, Charles Rolls, bought an electric vehicle named The Columbia Electric Carriage. His experience with it caused him to say, “The electric car is perfectly noiseless and clean. There is no smell or vibration. They should become very useful when fixed charging stations can be arranged.” Charging stations have been around now for more than a century – after all, the early electric vehicles had to be charged – so, what stopped Rolls Royce from entering the fully-electric space since?

“The customers always said: it has to be a Rolls-Royce first, electric second,” explains Torsten Müller-Ötvös, CEO, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

Apparently, Rolls-Royce has now found the sweet spot between luxury and sustainable solutions.

From the outside, the Rolls Royce Spectre resembles the image of the yet-to-be-confirmed Droptail, but, until the latter is brought to life, it is safe to say that the Spectre retains the physical structure of a typical Rolls Royce while still being different enough to be a truly unique marque.

For starters, the Rolls Royce Spectre is a sleek coupe, perhaps so designed to make it fast enough in spite of its weight. It retains the Greek Temple grille, but this is wider than any other grille on a Rolls Royce. The reason for its massive width is not to cool the engines but to reduce drag which it achieves with its smoother and flusher vanes.

Like the Phantom, the Spectre has been fitted with split headlights with daylight running lights on top and the main lights below which protrude from darkened chromium housings that give them a smokey, enigmatic look. When it is dark, the grille softly lights up with 22 LEDs illuminating the sandblasted rear side of each of the vanes, further conferring upon the coupe an air of luxury. Its 23-ich wheels take it from a mere luxury EV to a luxury coupe that is not to be messed with.

Inside, the luxury theme continues. For the first time on a series production Rolls-Royce, Spectre is available with Starlight Doors, which incorporate 4,796 softly illuminated ‘stars’. If you would rather not have so many lights in your vehicle, you can go with the option of wood Candel Panelling. Don’t worry, you would not miss out on much: the passenger side of the dashboard is fitted with the Spectre nameplate surrounded by a cluster of over 5,500 stars.

Spectre comes with a digitalised dashboard named Spirit that manages its functions and is seamlessly integrated into the marque’s Whispers application, allowing clients to interact with their auto remotely, and receive live information curated by the marque’s luxury intelligence specialists. Clients can choose to customise the colour of the dials to complement the interior hue of their EV, which includes seats that have a ‘lapel,’ a dart of upholstery that gives another option for contrast detailing.

According to Rolls Royce, the entire design of the Spectre was inspired by different arts including haute couture, modernist sculpture, nautical design, tailoring and contemporary art. In conceiving the principal sketches for Spectre, the marque’s creatives were drawn to modern yacht concepts, specifically the clarity and precision of line, intelligent use of reflection and application of taper to emotionalise silhouettes.

The Rolls Royce Spectre will run on BMW’s latest cell type, uniquely shaped to fit the marque’s floor. The motors too come from BMW, the EESM type that uses no rare earth metals and is efficient at high speeds. It is expected to have a range of 320 miles/520 kilometres and should achieve 0-60mph in 4.4 seconds (0-100km/h in 4.5 seconds). With a four-wheel steering system, adaptive dampers, air springs and a Planar system that enables the wheels of the vehicle to act independently on imperfect roads, owners are assured of a smooth, truly enjoyable ride.

The Rolls Royce Spectre is set to hit the market in Q4 2023, and in spite of its starting price tag of $413,000, Müller-Ötvös has confirmed that more than 300 US buyers have paid the initial deposit even before they saw the EV. Like Müller-Ötvös, it is possibly clear to avid enthusiasts of the brand that “Spectre is the most perfect product that Rolls Royce has ever produced.”

The post The Rolls Royce Spectre, the Luxury Auto Brand’s First-Ever EV, is here! first appeared on Aspire Luxury Magazine.

The post The Rolls Royce Spectre, the Luxury Auto Brand’s First-Ever EV, is here! appeared first on Aspire Luxury Magazine.