Rolls opens second showroom in India, cheapest car at Rs.31 mn

New Delhi, Sep 12 : Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd, a premium car manufacturer and part of the BMW Group, Friday announced the opening of a showroom here, the city's first and the country's second.

The company, which opened its first Indian showroom in Mumbai in 2005, is optimistic about selling almost 20 cars in the country this year.

“We have till now crossed last year's number and hope to sell between 16-20 units in India this year depending on the demand,” Rolls-Royce director (sales and marketing) Graeme Grieve told reporters at the launch of the company's second showroom in the country.

The UK-based company sold 1,010 cars in 2007 and aims to sell almost 1,200 cars this year globally.

Currently, the three models of the Phantom family will be offered in India with the price ranging from Rs.3.15 crore (Rs.31.5 million) to Rs.3.55 crore (Rs.35.5 million) or a little over USD 750,000.

The car platter includes - Phantom priced at Rs.3.15 crore, Phantom Extended Wheelbase priced at Rs.3.55 crore and Phantom Drophead Coupe for Rs.3.5 crore.

“Going forward, we have some new products coming. In two months time, we'll launch the Phantom Coupe in India, which is the fourth and final car in the Phantom series,” Grieve said.

The carmaker has already bagged two customers for the Drophead Coupe, which was launched last year, and hopes the next more-affordable model, codenamed RR4, will have more takers when it is launched in 2010.

The premium carmaker has an annual production capacity of 1,000 units, which it plans to increase significantly with the starting of the second production line, and will also hire 200 more people to cater to the growing demands.

“Currently, we have a headcount of 500 people worldwide but we will be increasing that number and hire 200 people in the next two years,” Grieve said.

Rolls-Royce is looking at sales growing 25-40 percent per annum over the next four to five years.