May 28, 2021
12:35
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Sold for 28 million dollars, the “Boat Tail”, Rolls Royce’s latest model, dethroned Bugatti’s famous “Black Car” as the most expensive new automobile.
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To say that Rolls-Royce does not know the crisis would be a nice understatement. It could well be pointed out that the automaker suffered at the start of the pandemic, losing 20 to 25% of sales volume last year. But it has since rebooted with a bang, seeming to have regained its cruising speed.
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Proof of his regained health, Rolls-Royce unveiled on Thursday a model intended for the ultra-rich, the “Boat Tail”. Named in homage to the marine world, with its rear curves reminiscent of that of a boat (luxury, always), this tailor-made vehicle only exists three copies and offers an almost insolent level of luxury.
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©AFP
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See for yourself: the rear panels rise sideways to form a a table sheltered by a parasol, in order to be able to have lunch or dinner in the open air from their vehicle, if the desire takes their very wealthy owners. But not with just any service since there are silver cutlery engraved “Boat Tail” and signed Christofle. And not at any temperature either, a double small fridge being integrated into the machine to savor its flavor.hampagne Armand de Brignac Fresh. Under the hood, there is an engine V12 with a power of 570 hp. Luxury, yes, but on steroids.
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©AFP
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New record?
Beyond the pageantry, it is above all the price of the machine that impresses. With its $ 28 million (nearly 23 million euros), the “Boat Tail” takes over the place of the most expensive new car in Bugatti’s “Black Car”, sold for $ 18.7 million, almost 10 million less. If Rolls-Royce remains relatively discreet on the price of its vehicles, the “Sweptail” of 2017 was so far the most expensive model of the manufacturer, with its 12.8 million dollars.
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“The ‘Sweptail’ caught the attention of a few customers who wanted something similar, but even more spectacular.”
Torsten Müller-Ötvös
CEO de Rolls-Royce
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“We accepted this project four years ago. For us, it is the pinnacle of all our business at Rolls-Royce,” says CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös, from BMW’s subsidiary headquarters at Goodwood, in southern England.
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“Customers come to us with an idea in mind, that’s exactly what happened a hundred years ago. This homecoming goes back to the “Sweptail“in 2017 when we launched the first Coachbuild unit project (“tailored”, editor’s note) of modern times. It caught the attention of a few customers who wanted something similar, but even more spectacular. We intend to continue and start over every two years“, he adds.
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Luxury cars are popular
Since the last quarter of 2020, the manufacturer has benefited from a rebound and recorded the “best quarter of his 116 years” early 2021, with “strong demand” for its star-studded sedan, the New Ghost, and its 2.6-ton SUV, the Cullinan. “The production for this year is already fully booked. The normal waiting time for a Rolls-Royce is around six months“, says the CEO of the brand.
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Luxury cars are snapping up like hot cakes, as if the super-rich wanted to regain pre-crisis fever.
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If the pandemic has increased inequalities everywhere, the boss of the manufacturer of these exclusive cars notes “that he there is a lot of money ready to be spent“. “It’s a promising global contextr and I think that’s the case for the entire luxury industry. “
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Rolls-Royce is indeed not the only one to benefit from the post-coronavirus craze. Luxury cars are snapping up like hot cakes, as if the super-rich wanted to find the fever of the pre-crisis, “customers who understood that they could die tomorrow and that now is the time to enjoy life“, dixit Torsten Müller-Ötvös.
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Lamborghini, Ferrari and others
In Lamborghini, the enormous SUV Urus (around 200,000 euros) has exploded sales since its launch in 2018: 7,430 cars were sold worldwide in 2020, the Volkswagen group brand improving its 2019 record.
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Ferrari had seen its sales fall by 10% in 2020, with 9,199 cars sold, but the horse reared up again in early 2021, with sales driven by the SF90 Street, its first plug-in hybrid sports car, sold for just under 450,000 euros, and the Monza, its two-seater without windshield estimated at 1,7 million d’euros. Ferrari now has one “order book at a record level”, indicated its management in early May. The last luxury brand not to offer an SUV, it hopes to pass the 10,000 sales mark with its “Purosangue” scheduled for 2022.
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©REUTERS
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UK, Bentley (Volskwagen group) faced the crisis by laying off thousands of employees at the start of the pandemic. But the manufacturer ended up going up the slope and also recording a historic sales record for the year with more than 11,000 vehicles sold. Sales boosted by SUV Bentayga (a little less than 200,000 euros).
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If luxury brands have especially seen their sales accelerate in China, where the economy has not been paralyzed for months, as in the rest of the world.
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Equally affected in 2020, McLaren is counting on its hybrid supercar, l’Artura (230,000 euros) to revive. Aston Martin, saved from bankruptcy in early 2020, saw its sales pick up in the first quarter of 2021 with its DBX SUV.
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If these luxury brands are popular in Europe and North America, they have especially seen their sales accelerate in china, where the economy has not been paralyzed for months, as in the rest of the world. “With more and more millionaires and billionaires (Chinese) every year, this trend should continue“, concludes Felipe Munoz, expert for the firm Jato Dynamics.
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