Rolls meets massive demand from Chinese super-rich

By Jack Carfrae

Motor Industry

26 April 2007 01:28

Four showrooms not enough to serve the needs of all those impoverished rice pickers?

Apparently not. This is Rolls' fifth Chinese dealership and its eightieth worldwide. Rolls Royce announced the opening of its new showroom at the increasingly important Shanghai Auto show today. The luxury car market is big business in China. Last year Rolls Royce sales leapt by 60 per cent there - no mean feat for a low-volume manufacturer whose only model costs over £250k. As well as announcing the opening of the new showroom, Ian Robertson, chairman and CEO at Rolls Royce, gave the Asian audience its first glimpse of the new Phantom Drophead Coupe. The open-air Roller goes into production this summer at the Goodwood factory.

By Jack Carfrae