Rolls-Royce launches 拢250,000 car as demand rebounds

Image source, Reuters

Image caption, Torsten M眉ller-脰tv枚s said business was back to "far more normal" levels

The boss of carmaker Rolls-Royce has said global demand for luxury vehicles is rebounding despite the pandemic.

Boss Torsten M眉ller-脰tv枚s told the 大象传媒 that markets in Asia, Europe and the US were now "more or less back to normal".

Mr M眉ller-脰tv枚s was speaking at the launch of the new Rolls-Royce Ghost, the company's latest model, which is expected to retail at around 拢250,000.

He said sales for the first half of 2020 were down 30%, but now "times are starting to become better and better".

Mr M眉ller-脰tv枚s described the launch of the new Rolls-Royce Ghost, a complete redesign of the most successful car in the firm's history, as a "seminal moment".

Image source, Reuters

At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Rolls-Royce shut down production for a couple of weeks, while dealerships around the world followed suit.

The slump in sales came after a bumper year in 2019, which Mr M眉ller-脰tv枚s described as "the best-ever year in the 116-year history of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars".

"But of course, then Covid happened," he added.

Since then, the firm had seen an "upward trend", he said. "Business is coming back to what I would call far more normal."

The Rolls-Royce boss rejected suggestions that the carmaker was overly dependent on one region for its sales, saying it was "well balanced worldwide".

Although the US was its biggest market and China was important, there was also strong demand in countries such as the UK, which accounted for 10% of its sales, he said.