Super rich continue to splurge on Rolls-Royce cars despite a cooling economy

Despite a cooling economy, the wealthy population is continuing to splurge on Rolls-Royce models and the company hasn't really seen any downturn in order intake over the last months, the luxury automaker's CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös told Bloomberg in an interview. “I’m cautiously optimistic about this year," he added. He added that while the company isn't immune to a recession, the global distribution of its customers protects it from such crisis.

Last year, the auto company delivered a record 6,000+ vehicles. Owned by Germany’s BMW AG, the company plans to sell only battery-powered vehicles by the end of this decade. In October, it showed off the Spectre, its all-electric coupe which is capable of a zero-to-60 mph sprint time of 4.4 seconds.

Expected to arrive in the fourth quarter, orders for the Spectre are ‘exceeding’ the company's highest expectations, the CEO said, adding that the brand is attracting new customers because it’s going electric. The vehicle is built on an all-aluminium structure, shares its underpinnings with the Phantom and Cullinan and is a ‘spiritual successor’ to the carmaker's Phantom Coupe.

The Spectre EV has traits of the Wraith with a slim front grille flanked by a split headlight units. Overall, it carries forward Rolls-Royce design philosophy without deviating too much from the ICE range.

Speaking of the overall luxury market, Müller-Ötvös said that the market may cool slightly this year and it’s too early to predict how China will develop, even as it’s encouraging that travel from the Asian country is picking up. “Once the pandemic is over in China, I foresee again growth patterns to happen there as well," he said. “The rest of the world is pretty stable."

Last year, Rolls-Royce saw sales rising 8% to 6,021 cars, with customers spending around $537,100 per vehicle on average.