If you wanted to buy a super luxury car like Rolls Royce, then it could be a good time now. Not just Rolls Royce, even other luxury cars like Bentley and Aston Martin have become cheaper by up to Rs 1 crore over the last couple of months.
The move comes in the wake of a sharp drop in the value of the British pound following Britain's decision to exit the European Union. Against the Rupee, which has strengthened across a basket of currencies following strong foreign fund inflows, the pound has depreciated by as much as 20% in less than a year.
"The depreciation of pound has benefited cars that are imported from UK as completely-built units," Sharad Kachalia, director at Navnit Motors, which sells Rolls Royce cars India, told THE WEEK.
Prices of select Jaguar Land Rover models were reduced earlier this month. Price of the Range Rover Sport came down by around Rs 31 lakh, while the Range Rover Vogue is now cheaper by over Rs 40 lakh.
Similarly, Rolls Royce has slashed prices of the Ghost by about Rs 50 lakh to Rs 5.25 crore and that of the Phantom by up to Rs 1 crore to about Rs 8 crore.
Kachalia hopes the price cuts will help boost demand in the super luxury car market.
"Market sentiments last year were not so good. We are already seeing higher enquiries following the price cuts and hopefully this will also convert into higher sales this year, " he added.
According to UK's Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) exports of cars from Britain to India have surged 11-fold in the last seven years, driven by increased demand for British marquee brands like Jaguar Land Rover, owned by Tata Motors. Last year, 3,372 British made cars were sold in India, up 16 per cent from a year ago.
"India is now the eight biggest Asian market for UK car exports, with demand rising at a rapid rate as an increasing number of affluent buyers take advantage of a range of all new premium and luxury British-built cars, "SMMT said.
