Rolls-Royce’ new Drophead Coupé

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars recently unveiled the new Phantom Drophead Coupé for the first time in the Middle East. With the addition of this car to its range, Rolls-Royce now offers three models, including the Phantom and Phantom Extended Wheelbase. Axel Obermueller, who is currently responsible for company sales in Europe and the Middle East, speaks to OER. Excerpts from the interview:

Where is the market for you?
As you can see from 1996 till 2003, the market was pretty stable. Then with the introduction of Bentley and the Continental GT, this market was good enough; the same is the case with Maserati and the new Ferraris. Suddenly, this segment is expanding. We can capture the market segment by say 200,000 plus euros and we have a segment share of 33 per cent. Of course, if you look into our wheels segment, the cars have sold worth 300,000 plus euros. We already have a market share of 58 per cent. This is an achievement, specially as we started this brand in 2003.

The average age of our buyers is already down 10 per cent. And with the new products that we are going to introduce, we expect to reduce the average age even further. This is very important when we want to look at the new clientele. We have traditional clients as well as the ultra high-income group with well over US$300,000 plus. In Europe, for instance, we have 23,000 customers and in the Middle East we have around 3,000, in the US, we have 35,000. Overall, we have approximately 85,000 and the number is growing. So, there is a huge customer base for expensive cars out there. We are expecting an increase in our customer base and as part of meeting the demand, we are considering options to expand our plant. We can either go in for a second line or even set up a double shift system. We are also expanding our dealer network. When we started in 2003, we had 68 dealers and now we have up to 81. When we ramp up production, we will increase the number of dealers a little bit more.

The new car is turning out to be very successful in Oman. The numbers are way ahead of what we originally planned. In fact, I can even add and say that as far as the convertible is concerned, we don’t have the availability till 2008. Whatever allocation we have given to our dealer, Al Jenaibi International Automobiles, for 2007 and the first half of 2008, have already been sold. When we looked at Oman two or three years ago, we looked at the market and said Oman is a motor market and it is a growing one. We introduced small numbers but we were able to sell more than what we thought we would be able to sell. And now the coupe and the convertible are being planned, we honestly see a lot of attention in Oman market. Oman is booming. There are more business people who are now getting into the high net worth category, so we see lot of potential for our vehicles in the Omani market.

We have a strong growth in the UAE market. We came to Oman 11 months ago and the growth over target was 100 per cent. When we talk about Rolls-Royce cars, Omanis are willing to wait up to one year because they don’t need a car. They have enough cars with them and they wait up to one year. We have to deliver it on time and that is the challenge.

What has been your experience in the Middle East market?
It is a challenging market because the customers are so demanding. On the one side, it is more easy to deal with them because it is easy to have access with them, which is easier than in Europe. But on the other side, they are very specific about what they would like to have, what kind of car, very clear ideas about special options, etc. They are very demanding. Middle East in general is a very interesting market and not because it has been booming for six or seven years and this is still going on. There are so many changes happening in this part of the world and it is exciting.

What is your expectation from the dealer?
They are representing the brand. So, this is an important part I think, because they have only small number of cars compared to other car companies. So, it is very important that the relationship between the dealer and the customer is absolutely perfect. The dealer has to provide world-class service because this is what the customer is expecting and if the dealer were not providing this kind of service then it would hurt the brand.
 
What is your forecast for 2008?
Well, we are really looking forward to the launch of the coupe, which is going to add to the product portfolio. So, suddenly Rolls-Royce is going to be a three-model line up as against the one model line up earlier this year. So, we expect it will attract a lot of new customers. We also expect that there is lot of attention with the brand because sometimes you take a brand for granted. But when a new brand is added suddenly, it gives a lot of excitement. We expect lot more excitement, widening of our customer base. So, overall as I said, we are very excited about where we are really heading with Rolls-Royce.

How long does it take to make a car?
The actual assembly takes about 20 days. For the decision-making and order of the material it may take even eight to 10 months. There are parallel processes. So, overall for making a Phantom it takes a minimum of 360 hours. Around 40 hours in the woodshop and around 30 hours at other bays.

Can you tell me in terms of numbers, how many vehicles have you sold in Oman?
One of the philosophies of Rolls-Royce is not to talk about individual figures for a single market and funnily enough we have got certain traditions as well. Some people might remember the times where we never used to talk about the horsepower of the car. We would say it is excellent. Globally, in a year we sell 800 cars, so obviously we cannot sell 500 cars in Oman. The message I would like to convey is that Rolls-Royce is now exciting to more customers. What is important to stress is that Rolls-Royce too is really excited. Our dealer has a managerial resource full time dedicated only to Rolls-Royce. His objective is to work with the customer. We don’t go and sell Rolls-Royce cars. We have the commitment to be able to take the customers through the acquisition process.

Advanced orders for the convertible are significant, and preparing our business for its arrival is vital to ensure the best possible service for our customers. As part of our business development, we recently opened a showroom through our partner Al Jenaibi International Automobiles at Al Qurum.

– Jayashankar Menon
 

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