ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 10, 1996 TAG: 9601100135
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LONDON
SOURCE: DIRK BEVERIDGE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OVERALL, AUTO SALES are down, but the most luxurious luxury models "are outperforming the market." These buyers, of course, do not purchase a mere vehicle.
Maybe life's looking up for the rich, who appear to be spending more freely on luxury cars.
During the early 1990s, the wealthy buyers of cars such as Rolls-Royce did not purchase new ones. Last year, though, they returned to showrooms in growing numbers.
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars reported Tuesday it sold 1,556 automobiles worldwide last year. That's 142 cars more than in 1994, a 10 percent increase.
A few days earlier, Jaguar Ltd. said 1995 sales had jumped 30 percent, with 39,725 cars sold around the world.
Such numbers wouldn't mean much to a mass producer from Detroit or Tokyo - General Motors Corp. sold 4.8 million cars and light trucks in the U.S. market alone last year.
But with Rolls price tags ranging from around $160,000 for a Bentley Brooklands to about $366,000 for a Rolls-Royce Limousine, a few extra cars add up quickly on the bottom line.
``We are outperforming the market,'' enthused Rolls-Royce chief executive Chris Woodwark. ``We enter 1996 in good spirits.''
At Jaguar, with prices ranging from around $48,000 for an XJ6 3.2 to about $114,000 for a Daimler Century 6.0 liter, annual sales topped the $1.6 billion mark for the first time.
Rolls-Royce, owned by the industrial group Vickers PLC, does not publicly disclose revenue from car sales.
It's not just the British luxury car sales that are on the rise, if figures from the vast U.S. market are an indicator.
German manufacturers last week reported rising sales in the United States last year, with BMW up nearly 11 percent at 93,309 cars, and Mercedes-Benz up 5.5 percent at 76,752 cars.
That compares with a 3.5 percent decline in U.S. sales of all models of cars to around 8.55 million vehicles in 1995.
``It's basically the affluent in the U.S. - California, people in Florida - shelling out about $300,000 for a top-of-the-range car,'' said Tony Lancelott, who follows the industry for UBS Ltd. in London.
``I believe you have something like a million millionaires over there, and they like top-of-the-range cars, lucky old them.''
Jaguar, owned by Ford Motor Co., attributed its better results to strong sales of its new XJ series and a revamping of its sales teams.
In other world markets, Rolls-Royce reported higher sales everywhere but in the Middle East. Jaguar's sales doubled in the Middle East, with buyers in Kuwait, Turkey and Oman leading the way.
Both companies reported stronger sales in continental Europe and Asia - and on their home turf in Britain.
``There does seem to be more confidence at the top end of most markets,'' said Harry Philips, who follows the auto industry for the London brokerage Panmure Gordon and Co. ``If you talk to Jaguar dealers in the U.K., they're very happy people.''
LENGTH: Medium: 64 linesby CNB