Rolls-Royce rides to new sales record in 2022

Rolls-Royce on Monday reported record sales last year despite an average price tag of around $534,000 (about R9.1m) for its luxury cars and a drop in Chinese demand, with orders stretching into 2023.

The British carmaker, which began as Rolls-Royce in Manchester, England nearly 120 years ago and is now owned by Germany's BMW, said it sold 6,021 cars in 2022, up from 5,586 in 2021, which was also a record year.

Rolls-Royce's sales were led by the Americas, with the US remaining its top market with around 35% of sales. In China, the carmaker's second-largest market, coronavirus-related lockdowns led to a "single-digit drop" in sales.

CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös said in an online presentation that this decrease was offset by growth in other markets.

"Our order book stretches far into 2023 for all models," Müller-Ötvös said.

"We haven't seen any slowdown in orders."

Rolls-Royce said t pre-orders for its fully-electric Spectre, due to go on sale at the end of 2023, had exceeded all expectations.

The CEO told reporters the growth anticipated for 2023 came despite Rolls-Royce halting sales in Russia, which typically accounted for 250 to 300 units per year, in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine last February.

Müller-Ötvös said the luxury brand's bespoke, customised approach had led to "ever more imaginative, personal and technically demanding" orders from customers.