Rolls Royce hopes to drive sales four-fold with Ghost

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New Delhi: Rolls Royce Motor Cars is betting big on the Indian market on the back of its yet to be launched super-luxury sedan, the Ghost. The car, which is the least expensive vehicle from the stable of Rolls Royce in India at Rs 2.5 crore, is expected to help the company increase its sales by nearly four times in 2010 at 75 units, against 15-18 units that are expected to be sold this year.

"India is one of the fastest wealth growing nations in the world and as demand has started picking up in the past four months, we expect to see an over 300% jump in sales in India next year after the launch of Ghost in the second quarter of 2010," said Colin Kelly, regional director (Asia-Pacific), Rolls Royce Motor Cars, at the preview of the vehicle on Friday.

Kelly said of the total sales in 2010, 40-60 units would be contributed by Ghost. The vehicle will have a 6.6 litre twin turbo charged V12 engine. "With the addition of Ghost next year, we expect India to contribute 10-12% to our total global sales," he said, adding that the total sales of Rolls Royce worldwide stood at 1, 212 cars in 2008, which would double to over 2,000 cars in 2010 with the Ghost.

"We have seen a healthy level of interest around Ghost in India, which started earlier this year during the 200EX world tour. Ghost has appealed to a broader set of Indian buyers and this has further strengthened the high demand that we are experiencing around the region despite the current economic climate," said Brenda Pek, general manager for south and east Asia-Pacific.

However, Rolls Royce expects a decline in total sales across the globe this year with lesser volumes than last year. "Though things have started improving over the past few months with early signs of revival coming from India, we think there will be an overall decline in sales this year as compared to 2008," Kelly said, adding that the company had sold 20 units of Phantom in India in 2008.