Not much analysis here, but it is always interesting to see “special” Rolls-Royce orders, including that of the world famous Peninsula. We reported before that the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong had bought the world’s largest order – and now maintains – the largest fleet of Rolls-Royce motorcars in the world.

From Rolls-Royce:

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars will hand over two Phantom Extended Wheelbase cars to The Peninsula Tokyo on 31 August, just before the official opening of the hotel in Marunouchi, Tokyo on 1 September 2007.

(more…)

It was only a few months ago that Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and the Peninsula Hotel Hong Kong unveiled the largest ever single order for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars: 14 Bespoke Rolls-Royce Phantoms in “Peninsula Green”.

We’ve take some footage provided by Rolls-Royce and edited to make an interesting an concise video about the event and the process of making the cars. The video provides some insight into the bespoke car business.

Check out the press release and vehicle details here:
http://hongkong.peninsula.com/phk/pdfs/rolls_royce_press_release.pdf

See our video here:

The Financial Times reported next week that the Chinese will become the third largest buyer of Rolls-Royce Phantoms taking the spot from Japan. Rolls-Royce plans to sell 70 Phantoms in China and 50 in Japan according to the article.

The cost of a Rolls-Royce Phantom starts at about US$400,000 in the Chinese mainland. Most orders are in Hong Kong, which has the world’s highest number of Rolls-Royce motorcars per capita. After taxes, the price is nearly doubled because the Chinese heavily taxes imported cars. As a reference point, Thailand taxes imports so heavily the final price can be 4 times what it would be without taxation. Of course, no company knows customisation like Rolls-Royce, and this is the reason one Chinese developer recently paid US$2,000,000 to import a highly customised version recently.

Of course, taken in the grand scheme of it all, Chinese imports of 70 cars pales in comparison to California, which will import twice as many for the rich, and possibly, famous.

For the BTKM analysis, we view this all as a sign that with the significant increase in the number of Chinese millionaires, Rolls-Royce can expect to see increase demand and thus increased revenue generated in Asia. Therefore, R-R will need to consider a strong marketing and supply channel push in the country in the coming year. At current rates, Rolls-Royce could expect to import more cars than California in less than five years.

Of course the implication here is that other European carmakers will also prosper. Rolls-Royce former amalgamate, Bentley, would lead us to believe that the Crewe, England-based automaker will also see much increased sales, especially considering a lower, yet exclusive price point.

Editors note: Here at Beyond the KM, we would buy a Phantom, but still need to find the money and the driver … so feel free to click the ads to generate a little loving revenue!

The automotive industry today is global like none other. According to a recent International Herald Tribune article, the Thai auto industry will produce 1.2 million cars in 2006, with half being exported to locales including Europe. That makes Thailand the third largest Asian automotive exporter.

The article is significant because it discusses the incentives program currently in place by the government. Despite being a developing country, Thaliand has very stringent new rules. To receive incentives car makers must be producing cars that get a minimum of 47 miles per gallon (5 litres/100KM). Emissions must meet Euro 4 standards.

The key analysis here is that it is difficult for a country that is used to producing larger cars (Thais love big cars) to change over to smaller cars. The parallell is that the same problem exists for manufacturers, producing cars for the USA. In a country that loves to guzzle gas, it may be stringent standards and better fuel efficiency that saves the country from impending economic crisis.