Home to the highest number of billionaires in the world, India is set to be counted among the top five markets for Rolls-Royce globally, the world?s largest luxury carmaker. Chief executive of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, Torsten Muller-Otvos, who is on his first trip to the sub-continent, said India is among the most important markets for Rolls-Royce in the world. ?India could be among the fifth largest markets for Rolls-Royce in the next three years,? Otvos said.

He said that currently India is the seventh largest market for Rolls-Royce with annual sales of just about 80 units. However, he expected the company to cross the three digit mark in 2011 and join the exclusive club of top five for Rolls-Royce. In 2010 Rolls-Royce sales in India grew six-fold over the previous year.

Currently, North America is the company?s largest market with annual sales of around 1,000 units, followed by China with 600 units and UK. In 2010, Rolls-Royce sold 2,711 units globally ? its highest ever.

Otvos said the average age of a Rolls-Royce owner in India was among the lowest in the world, a sign of the growing affluence of the people in the country. In fact, he said the youngest Rolls-Royce owner in the world is a 26-year old Indian. ?The profile of a Rolls-Royce buyer in India has changed tremendously. Very successful young entrepreneurs are buying Rolls-Royce who have achieved a lot of success in life,? he said.

In line with its plans to make inroads into the domestic market, Otvos said the company would be opening two more dealerships in the country this year. The new dealerships are likely to come up in South India and Punjab. Currently, Rolls-Royce has two showrooms in New Delhi and Mumbai.

Otvos said that in the automobile realm the company had no competition in the price range. ?Owning a Rolls-Royce is the ultimate success for an individual,? he said. He added that the company was facing competition from private jets and yachts, but not from any carmaker.

He also ruled out introducing any future Rolls-Royce product in India which would be priced comparatively lower than its other models. ?We are not going to introduce a car below the Ghost. Our cars are very exclusive and would be remain so,? he said. Currently, the Rolls-Royce cars costs around Rs 2.5 crore in India.