paul
01-05-2009, 05:04 AM
Rolls Royce has been in India for three years. How has the journey been? What is the plan of action going further in terms of expansion and other activities around the brand?
Rolls Royce teentered India in 2005 after an absence of 50 years. It was a very measured decision for us. We saw a lot of economic growth here, there was a growing awareness of the brand and the number of affluent potential customers has been on the rise. We came into the market expecting it to be good and it has been a strong show of force. We have grown more than 50 percent year-on-year. The reasons are organic growth, the escalation ofweaith and the rapid development of the economy. We have recently opened our second dealership point in Delhi, the first being in Mumbai. This will see us safe as a brand for at least another couple of years. We have watched very carefully how the economy has developed and we have customers in other areas that require service. Then we will look forward for the potential to expand further.
Given the way the segment of Rolls Royce has performed in the last 2-3 years and based on the perform¬ance, what is your projection for the next 4-5 years, in terms of growth and expansion of the segment in India?
Rolls Royce is placed in a fairly unique market place. The dynamics of Rolls Royce is very different from the dynamics of the general car market and we have sold less than 1000 cars a year globally. Our volume growth tends to follow the growth of wealth, particularly of millionaires and billionaires around the world. So, we operate in quite a special market place. We see that India is growing dramatically and therefore one of the reasons we are keen to come back is that the rate of development in this country has been quite astounding. We have seen what is happening in China in the last ten years.
455
All economic predictions are that India is very much tracking that rate and speed of growth. Going forward, we see India as being a big-big market for us. We are not a brand that measures our success in terms of volumes. We are the custodians of a brand that is more than 100 years old and we are very respectful of that. We are driven by customer demand. We don't market our brands; most of our marketing is done by the customers. We just present our products and allow them to work with respective customers to engage them. Therefore, India will be one of our strong markets.
Now that you are operating in a unique market of your own and sold six cars in the first year, 12 last year and this year it could be around 20 and given the expansion of wealth in India, how do you see the growth 4-5 years down the line and how many cars do you expect to sell in India? GG: In terms of sheer numbers, by the end of this year we aim to sell close to 20 cars in India. Going forward, we have some new products coming up. We have now completed the Phantom family. In October we will launch the Phantom Q5in India, which will be the fourth and final car in the Phantom series. We are already working on another generation of cars, which is code-named RR4 or the Rolls Royce 4. It is a saloon, a slim car, slightly smaller than Phantom and in a lower price position.
The RR4 will have a brand new engine, which will be more powerful than Phantom's engine. It will be pretty much an evolution of the engine seen in the Phantom; it will still be a 12-cylinder engine. We have new technologies, particularly in the air transmission management that we will introduce on the car. The car will have a different character and will have more dynamism to its performance. It will be more youthful in its style and that would allow us to broaden the appeal of the brand and that in addition will allow us to build our volumes here. With the combination of the economic growth and the introduction of the product, I would hope to see our volumes develop between 2S to 40 per cent year-on-year within India in the next 3-4 years.
Rolls Royce teentered India in 2005 after an absence of 50 years. It was a very measured decision for us. We saw a lot of economic growth here, there was a growing awareness of the brand and the number of affluent potential customers has been on the rise. We came into the market expecting it to be good and it has been a strong show of force. We have grown more than 50 percent year-on-year. The reasons are organic growth, the escalation ofweaith and the rapid development of the economy. We have recently opened our second dealership point in Delhi, the first being in Mumbai. This will see us safe as a brand for at least another couple of years. We have watched very carefully how the economy has developed and we have customers in other areas that require service. Then we will look forward for the potential to expand further.
Given the way the segment of Rolls Royce has performed in the last 2-3 years and based on the perform¬ance, what is your projection for the next 4-5 years, in terms of growth and expansion of the segment in India?
Rolls Royce is placed in a fairly unique market place. The dynamics of Rolls Royce is very different from the dynamics of the general car market and we have sold less than 1000 cars a year globally. Our volume growth tends to follow the growth of wealth, particularly of millionaires and billionaires around the world. So, we operate in quite a special market place. We see that India is growing dramatically and therefore one of the reasons we are keen to come back is that the rate of development in this country has been quite astounding. We have seen what is happening in China in the last ten years.
455
All economic predictions are that India is very much tracking that rate and speed of growth. Going forward, we see India as being a big-big market for us. We are not a brand that measures our success in terms of volumes. We are the custodians of a brand that is more than 100 years old and we are very respectful of that. We are driven by customer demand. We don't market our brands; most of our marketing is done by the customers. We just present our products and allow them to work with respective customers to engage them. Therefore, India will be one of our strong markets.
Now that you are operating in a unique market of your own and sold six cars in the first year, 12 last year and this year it could be around 20 and given the expansion of wealth in India, how do you see the growth 4-5 years down the line and how many cars do you expect to sell in India? GG: In terms of sheer numbers, by the end of this year we aim to sell close to 20 cars in India. Going forward, we have some new products coming up. We have now completed the Phantom family. In October we will launch the Phantom Q5in India, which will be the fourth and final car in the Phantom series. We are already working on another generation of cars, which is code-named RR4 or the Rolls Royce 4. It is a saloon, a slim car, slightly smaller than Phantom and in a lower price position.
The RR4 will have a brand new engine, which will be more powerful than Phantom's engine. It will be pretty much an evolution of the engine seen in the Phantom; it will still be a 12-cylinder engine. We have new technologies, particularly in the air transmission management that we will introduce on the car. The car will have a different character and will have more dynamism to its performance. It will be more youthful in its style and that would allow us to broaden the appeal of the brand and that in addition will allow us to build our volumes here. With the combination of the economic growth and the introduction of the product, I would hope to see our volumes develop between 2S to 40 per cent year-on-year within India in the next 3-4 years.