Money accumulated during pandemic helps Rolls-Royce hit record sales

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars achieved record sales in 2021 as coronavirus lockdowns led to “a lot of money accumulated worldwide”, the company’s chief executive has said.

Torsten Muller-Otvos said the BMW-owned firm delivered 5,586 cars last year, up 49% on 2020.

He told a virtual press conference it is “very much due to Covid that the entire luxury business is booming worldwide”.

People “couldn’t travel a lot” or spend money on “luxury services” following the outbreak of the virus in 2020, Mr Muller-Otvos said.

“For that reason, there is quite a lot of money accumulated worldwide, which was spent on luxury goods. We also profited from that.

“Many people also witnessed in their community people dying from Covid and that made them think that life can be short and you’d better live now than postpone it to a later date.

“That also has helped quite massively to (encourage people to) invest into what I would call the nice, lovely things in the world.”

Rolls-Royce said there was strong demand for all its models in 2021, particularly the Ghost and Cullinan.

Bespoke commissions were also at record levels.

The firm, based in Goodwood, West Sussex, is continuing to develop its first pure electric car, Spectre, which is due to be released in the final three months of 2023.

Mr Muller-Otvos described 2021 as “a phenomenal year” for Rolls-Royce.

“We delivered more cars than at any time in the marque’s 117-year history with unprecedented demand for all products in every global market,” he said.