Rolls-Royce is to Britain as Ferrari is to Italy: a national icon.


In late 2009, in the throes of the global economic crisis, new Rolls-Royce boss Tom Purves (who took the helm from Ian Robertson in July) told CAR magazine, "the current take rate varies between 60 and 70 cars per month, which is not brilliant, but it's not life-threatening, either.

"We can come down to 500 units a year before things would get difficult. Thanks to the Ghost, this won't happen" (CAR, December 2009).

The Rolls-Royce has ever been an elegant car, born of a heritage of inspiration, rather than aspiration; of craftsmanship as opposed to millimeters of fit-and-finish, and of glorious delusion. The point of a Rolls-Royce was always more to inspire than to frighten. The car of Henry Royce never looked down upon bystanders; why would it have had to? It was the proverbial Best Car in the World.

While the BMW Group lent technological credibility to Rolls-Royce's more bombastic claims, the design of the Rolls-Royce Phantom - launched in 2004 - seemed more brash than elegant. Its commercial success, however, has been indisputable. In the first eight months of 2007, Rolls-Royce delivered 459 automobiles, up by 14.8% over the same period of 2006. By the end of the year, Rolls-Royce saw its global sales climb 25% to a record 1,010 cars.

With the 2010 Ghost, Marek Djordjevich's imposing shape was successfully carried over by designer Ian Cameron, here with somewhat more British curvature; as AutoExpress put it, "the smaller dimensions mean the Ghost looks more natural than its gargantuan big brother."


A 2007 Financial Times survey finds that the average Rolls-Royce buyer enjoys an income of 22.8 million euros. No more than 85,000 people around the globe fall into this category. Rolls-Royce chairman Tom Purves hopes that 3,000 of them, per year, will choose a Rolls-Royce (2,000 Ghosts and 1,000 Phantoms) as opposed to "a second villa in the south of France, a more expensive helicopter, or a particularly exclusive painting."