Saturday, October 11, 2008
Rolls on a roll as it beats the credit crunch
The credit crunch appears to be bypassing Rolls-Royce, which is seeing sales soar and is recruiting more workers.
Last month, Rolls-Royce delivered 129 cars, up 7.5% on 12 months ago and marking a 42.8% rise in deliveries since the start of the year to 827 cars.
Emerging economies, such as India, where Rolls-Royce opened a second showroom this year, continue to be the company's best markets. In addition, demand in the Middle East continues to be buoyant.
The size of the manufacturer's current order book has not been disclosed, but the company said that it remained confident about the future.
Underlining that confidence is the fact that at last week's Paris Motor Show the company confirmed that a £170,000 'baby' Rolls-Royce would go into production and enter showrooms in 2010.
And a further indication has come with confirmation that the Goodwood-based carmaker has hired 200 additional staff this year and will add a further 200 jobs in 2009.
Other luxury car manufacturers, including Ferrari and Lamborghini, are also seeing sales rise.
Rolls-Royce chief executive Tom Purves commenting on the economic situation said: "We've had a very good year. Nobody's immune, and we certainly don't think we're immune, but we do think we have a certain degree of insulation."
DATED: 11.10.08
FEED: AW
