UAE: World’s Biggest Market for Rolls Royce Cars

UAE has gradually evolved as the biggest market for Rolls Royce cars across the world, leaving behind Dubai and Beijing in terms of sales last year.  Dubai and Abu Dhabi dealerships of Rolls Royce  has achieved the second highest and the highest sales respectively, according to Frank Tiemann, The communication manager, Rolls Royce for the Middle East and Europe. Beijing and London followed at the third position, and Beverly Hills in the United States followed at the fourth place. “This is a very impressive development for Abu Dhabi,” said Mr. Tiemann yesterday. “It has been top five for the past three years.”

Sales, on the whole rose in the Middle East by 48 percent last year, up from 40 per cent in 2007, he mentioned. Phantom was the most famous and the sought after model of Rolls Royce for the buyers in Emirates last year which costs around Dh1.46 million equals to US$400,000, is a four door limousine and all this in a package that does not contain any customized features, according to Mr. Tiemann.

Throughout the world, Dubai and Abu Dhabi had the range of requests for customization from the requests related to colors or exclusively positioned buttons and knobs, he said. “In the UAE, each single car was a bespoke Phantom, which can easily double the cost,” he also mentioned. Tiemann did not mention what count of Rolls Royces has been sold in Dubai or Abu Dhabi- which throughout the Emirates, happen to be the only two dealerships- but mentioned that the numbers were in the range of three digits last year. He also said that the numbers were in the range of three digits in 2007 as well, with the dealership rankings of Abu Dhabi being the second-best in sales and Dubai holding the fifth rank.

According to Tiemann, the increase in sales in the Emirates evolved from the increasing growth of wealth in the region. “The sales shares we see in the different regions are based on the allocation of wealth around the globe,” he said. “There is no secret of success from my point of view.” The latest car dealer to announce growth in sales last year throughout the Middle East is Rolls Royce, which is an incredible achievement as the whole last year was crunched in the global slump.

Toyota recently dethroned General Motors (GM), and has emerged as the global top-selling car maker, underwent an increase of 19 per cent in sales last year here.  General Motors sold a record 144,485 cars last year across the Middle East. Mercedes- Benz witnessed a sales growth similar to GM, delivering a record of 19070 vehicles, up by 13 per cent from the previous year. The German collaboration delivered 2,959 cars in Abu Dhabi, exhibiting an 18 percent increase from last two years. Mercedes- Benz, in Dubai delivered 4,792 cars, which resulted in an increase of 12.8 per cent from the sales in the previous year. However, dealers have reported that the sales have shown a slowdown in the past few months because of difficult requirements for financing of cars including a higher minimum salary and greater minimum rates of interests.

“Considering the current market conditions, some of the [luxury] brands are likely to see lower growth rates or even negative sales in 2009,” he said. “Purchase of such cars does not just depend on the need, but on a whole host of factors, which include even factors like the exchange rate of the currency. Currently, customers are definitely more cautious about their purchases.” Tiemann said Rolls-Royce had not been immune to the effects of the economic slowdown in all regions and “sales have been suffering a bit”. He said it was premature to make predictions for the current year, but the company was well into a position in the region. “The Middle East made a tremendous result [in 2008], and stands for nearly 20 per cent of the worldwide figures,” he said. “We’ve got a very solid basis to looking into the future.” – The National. Dubai benefits from an influx of huge numbers of cheap holidays enthusiasts and Dubai holidays rank amongst the top destinations in the world. No wonder people want to spend their money in acquiring expensive cars in plaes like Dubai.

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Will this be the most expensive car ever sold?
• Halo Halo – gulo gulo