In these austere times for the automotive industry, a sales record for the purveyor of arguably the most exclusive vehicles on four wheels comes as something of a surprise. Rolls-Royce has not just marginally improved on its 2018 sales tally for 2019, either - it's totally mullered the number.
Improving upon the year before - already a record-setter - by a substantial 25 per cent, in 2019 Rolls-Royce sold 5,152 cars. Which, for cars that are - let's be conservative, for the sake of an argument - in the region of a quarter of a million pounds, is some achievement. Or, as R-R would say, the sales represent "a meaningful contribution to the overall performance of BMW Group". You don't say...
Now, of course, this record is in no small part due to the introduction of the Cullinan SUV and its first full year on sale; it had both the largest advance order book and swiftest "post-launch sales growth" of any car in Rolls-Royce's 116-year history.
Apparently the car has exceeded expectations, with demand across the world: around one in three Rolls-Royces still goes to North America, with China second by numbers and Europe third. Japan, Australia, Russia and Korea all enjoyed record Rolls Royce years.
Elsewhere, demand is said to have been strong for the other models - Phantom, Wraith, Dawn and Ghost, in case you'd forgotten. Success of the latter is particularly intriguing, given 2019 was the final year of its 11-year production run - and it's hard to imagine Rolls doing run-out special offer deals. The biggest-selling Rolls-Royce of all time, the Ghost will be replaced by a car setting "new heights of excellence and ambition in design, engineering, materials and driving dynamics" later this year.
As for the rest of 2020, expect more bespoke commissions after a record 12 months last year, and potentially even more staff after 50 were recruited in 2019 to cater for demand. Although another 25 per cent improvement for this year looks unlikely, not so long ago everybody thought a Rolls-Royce SUV was never going to happen. So let's see where we are in another 365 days' time.
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