Rolls Royce Motor Cars plans to launch its two-door, hard top coup?, code-named ?RR3?, in 2008 and ?RR4? better known as ?baby Rolls Royce? by 2010 in India, indicated Colin Kelly, regional director, Asia Pacific, Rolls-Royce Motor Car Ltd on the sidelines of the AutoCar Performance Show 2007 here. The company believes that ?next year will be a challenge?, for it since it expects higher demand from the country.
?The England facility has a production capacity of just 805 cars per year. We see next year to be a big challenge for us,? he said, adding the company plans to ramp up the capacity. He, however, gave no further details. Rolls Royce Motors made its comeback in the Indian market in 2005 and since then has been able to sell a total of around 25 cars. ?We sold 12 cars this year as compared to eight last year,? Kelly said. The company’s sole dealer in the country, Sharad Kachalia of the Mumbai-based Navnit Motors Pvt Ltd, said, ?Next year, we plan to sell around 4-5 units.? The company plans to add one more dealer in Delhi soon. When quizzed on how India fares against the Chinese market, Kelly said, ?China is a bigger market for Rolls Royce cars compared to India. We sell more cars in China than in England,? he added. Currently, the Asia-Pacific region is witnessing a growth of 35%-40%, which the company expects to go up to 40%-50% by next year.
Rolls Royce cars are imported into the country as completely built units (CBUs) from England and the company has no plan to assemble them here. ?Till the volumes are not high, it makes no sense assembling them here,? Kelly added.