Exclusivity is so important to Rolls-Royce customers – and company profits - that the launch of the new Wraith coupé is unlikely to be followed by a burst of new products, according to company boss Torsten Müller-Ötvös.
The Ghost-based Wraith coupé will go on sale this autumn from around £215,000, but Müller-Ötvös said any further expansion of the company’s product range would be carefully considered.
“We do want to push the brand in new directions, but we have to act carefully,” he said. “We have more than a century of pedigree, so it’s a responsibility we have to respect. The fact is that we are not looking to increase production – there is no room to grow the factory – and there is a strong positive attached to the exclusivity of our cars by customers.
“It would be easy to look to build £150,000 cars, but the reason we can sell in the £200,000 price bracket is that our cars are rare. Exclusivity is a principle of our company, and that is why we will not follow every trend.”
Müller-Ötvös did concede that new products are likely to be launched every couple of years. However, while he refused to rule out following rival Bentley in to the SUV segment, he played down speculation that booming demand for SUVs in markets such as China, Russia and Brazil made such a car a certainty.
“I wouldn’t exclude any segments, but I can’t imagine an SUV in our line-up as I stand here today,” he said. “Not one customer has come to us asking for one. They tend to have a garage of cars, and pick the best for each segment, be it a Rolls-Royce for refinement, a Range Rover as an SUV or a Ferrari for sporting driving. They want the best for every world.”
