Get a load of this. Rolls Royce has taken 60 orders in November-December 2009 for its newly launched Rolls Royce Ghost in India. How cools is that? India is finally back to its old ways in the global business of buying Rolls Royce cars, punching above its weight. This fact certainly is a nostalgic-feel for the RR marquee.

India is back in track from where it started for RR market. The new breed of Indian business tycoons are following in the footsteps of the pre-war maharajahs in their quest for luxury cars, snapping up the new $600,000 Rolls-Royce Ghost at the fastest rate in the world. The first Ghost will be delivered to a Chennai based realtor next month.

Rolls-Royce, the iconic British carmaker now owned by BMW, is hoping for big things from the Ghost, a “baby” 2.4-tonne luxury sedan that is about 40 per cent cheaper than the company’s flagship Phantom range.

Rolls Royce’s global sales dropped southwards with just 1000 RR Phantoms being sold in 2009 when compared to 1212 in 2008 thanks to the Global recession. But RR is quite optimistic this year and targets selling 2500 units of Phantom and Ghosts this year. The Ghost, was unveiled at the September 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show as the new entry level Roller.

Though Abu Dhabi and Dubai were the top sales outlets for Rolls Royce in 2008, thanks to the global financial crisis, the Middle-East luxury car sales is now cooling off and the new markets for the RR is emerging from the Asia-Pacific particularly from countries like China and India. RR expects to sell over 400 units with China accounting for half of the sales while India, Japan and Australia raking the rest of RR units.

RR though is targeting the global market for its sales, Indian car market will always remain special to the Rolls Royce as the saga of RR in India dates back to 1907 when Maharaja of Gwalior, Madho Rao Scindia , imported the first example of the car to India , just three years after Rolls-Royce was formed.

India, pre-independence though predominantly a British Raj, was a royal mass of land with over 500 princely states in it. Most the maharajas and Royals of these princely states were avid buyers of the brand, customizing them to suit Indian conditions. The Nizam of Hyderabad, for example, had a fleet of 50 Rollers, while the Maharajah of Patiala had 44 in his collection.
But with the coming of Indian independence in 1947, royals and Maharajas were forced to abandon their ostentatious lifestyles and lead a life of austerity for many decades to come. Their Rolls-Royces were garaged or sold to private collectors, such as the industrialist Pranlal Bhogilal, who has a collection of 200-plus vintage cars on his estate near Ahmedabad.

Further financial privation for the royals came in 1971 when then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi abolished the Privy Purse system of payments to them. By this time Rolls Royce had withdrawn from the Indian market and it was not until 2005 that it returned, appointing Navnit Motors in Mumbai as first authorized RR dealer in almost 50 years. Navnit subsequently opened a showroom in Mumbai’s Atria Mall in May 2006, and this was followed by a second Rolls-Royce dealership in India in September 2008, when Select Cars opened a showroom in New Delhi.

Going by the reports of the latest world wealth published by consulting firms Capgemini and Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, India had 84,000 US-dollar millionaires at the start of last year, down more than 30 per cent from an estimated 123,000 at the start of 2008, when share markets were at their peak. Of the 84,000, about 1000 Indians are in the “ultra” high net worth category, with assets above US$30 million, while between 50 and 100 are billionaires. India has already become a land of modern new age Maharajas.

While high net worth individual numbers may have receded a little from early 2008, the return of strong economic growth in the second half of 2009 in both India and China points to strong sales ahead for sellers of luxury goods. China’s GDP growth in 2010 is likely to be around 9 to 9.5 per cent, while India should reach 7.5 per cent. That compares with just a 2.2 per cent outlook for the US and 3.5 per cent for the world overall.

This is what makes India a fertile hunting ground for Rolls-Royce and other luxury car purveyors such as Bentley, which is owned by BMW’s rival German maker Volkswagen. Maybach, the Mercedes-Benz luxury model, rounds out the trio of brands at the top catering to the “chairman” segment, where customization is the name of the game. Family crests, cocktail cabinets, special carpet trim and unique colour combinations are among the personal touches most often requested.

In addition to the “chairman” luxury-car segment, there is also strong Indian demand for sports-style “supercars,” where names like Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche dominate the market.

Source: The Australian