Rolls Royce launched Dawn, its most regal and glamorous model, in Chennai on Friday. The British auto major sees South India as its future growth area.
Rolls Royce’s Regional Sales Manager, South Asia, Sven J. Ritter talks to THE WEEK on its plans for India. Excerpts from the interview.
What are your plans for India, South India in particular?
Well, in India, we already have a very established network. We are present in six locations covering sales and service. We do look for new opportunities in India.
How do you look at the market potential in India, particularly in South India?
For the last three years since we established, what we have seen is that India is the most growing market. In South India, we get customers not only from Chennai but from everywhere including Hyderabad, Kochi and Begaluru. This is the real growing region and we have our dealers present in those areas.
Tell us about Dawn
It is the first and the only convertible model. It’s designed from ground up and has beautiful engine. It’s very social, sexy and bold. It has a striking look with four individual seats, classy leg, head room, coupe and innovative roof system. It's also a stunning model with the 6.6-liter twin-turbocharged V12 engine. It’s rated at 563 hp and 575 lb-ft (780 Nm) of torque and is capable of gently gliding passengers to 62 mph (100 km/h) in a rather brisk 4.9 seconds before topping out at an electronically limited top speed of 155 mph (250 km/h). It is quietest convertible
Do you have plans for new models?
We have Phantom, our flagship model to be launched in 2018. After that, we have announced the all new version of the Phantom limousine, which is in the pipeline.
Sales target for India?
We don’t have any specific target. But certainly there is a growing demand, because we work for a niche segment. Young people come to us. So there is demand and we get customers from the whole of India and we cater to their demand.
