MotorAuthority

New smaller Ghost to double Rolls Royce's sales

Posted Tue Jun 9 2009 9:47 AM by Kenneth Hall

The new Ghost (spied undisguised above) will help push Rolls Royce into a new realm of sales volume

Despite a global downturn in auto sales in general, Rolls-Royce is working at full steam just to meet demand. But with a second, higher volume model on its way the carmaker will be forced to increased production and take on more staff. Rolls-Royce has already added more shifts and lengthened working hours, but still production can barely keep up. And now it looks like demand for the new Ghost, recently captured undisguised by our spy photographers, will be high enough to double sales outright.

In preparation for its upcoming Ghost sedan, Rolls-Royce has previously announced plans to increase its manufacturing workforce by 50% to meet the huge demand. Over 10,000 people have expressed interest in the new Ghost, while about 1,500 of those have made serious proposals to purchase, reports Reuters. That's enough to effectively double the company's sales volume in a single stroke.

More than 150 new jobs will be created to support the Ghost, which is scheduled to start production at the end of this year for an early 2010 sales release. By the end of 2009 Rolls-Royce will have created almost 400 new jobs in under two years, bringing the total number of employees based at Goodwood in the UK to 900.

The Ghost will be built on its own dedicated assembly line but will share paint, wood and leather workshops with the Phantom series of cars. Therefore, the majority of the new positions have been created in the wood, leather and paint shops as well as the assembly areas.

Even more amazingly, given the state of the rest of the industry, sales are expected to continue growing - even beyond the Ghost's infusion. For the year through April, Rolls-Royce sales were up 20% and with the new model due over the course of the next financial year the luxury carmaker from Goodwood is set to have its best year on record, even with sales of its current models beginning to level off.

Story Tags:

• 2009 Rolls Royce EX200 concept
• 200EX
• 2010 Rolls Royce RR4
• 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost
• Concept cars
• EX200
• Ghost
• Goodwood
• Rolls Royce
• Rolls Royce 200EX
• Rolls Royce EX200
• Rolls Royce RR4
• Rolls-Royce Ghost
• RR4
• Sedans

Reader Comments

• Mon Oct 8 2007 9:09 PM

  HECTOR says

  *Rolls-Royce production at maximum, still can’t meet demand*
  
  All that means is that there are many people out there with more money than taste.

• Mon Oct 8 2007 10:35 PM

  Gus says

  I'd agree. With the same money I would certainly buy something else. Like an Ariel Atom and a yacht... :)

• Mon Oct 8 2007 11:24 PM

  rickybobby says

  hmm
  ariel atom and a yacht?
  bit different than buying a rolls
  but if you would rather drive around in the open in an uncomfortable track car than a v12 powered super luxury car be my guest
  probably just a lot of rap artist and rockers needing cars for their videos

• Tue Oct 9 2007 1:10 AM

  Gus says

  Can you say Sultan?

• Tue Oct 9 2007 12:01 PM

  Ryanza says

  imho this car shows 2 fingers to..... EVERY1!!!:D
  If I had the do$h it'd be my ride!

• Tue Oct 9 2007 1:09 PM

  admin says

  Sadly, you can't buy a very nice yacht with the amount of money this costs.

• Tue Oct 9 2007 1:49 PM

  Gus says

  Sure you can. There's a 45 footer for sale here in Newport Beach for that same amount...

• Wed Oct 10 2007 8:41 AM

  car fan says

  a bit misleading ... demand might be 5 cars a year and capacity might be 4 cars per year, thus they can't keep with demand.
  
  In any case, (if I could afford one) I would much prefer a Bentley!

• Wed Oct 10 2007 8:59 AM

  MARIO says

  Rolls is a classic and it's certainly sign of a great taste.

• Wed May 20 2009 8:13 PM

  NoNameDenton says

  Nice to see a company adding to their work force and not cutting it