NEW YORK: Luxury automaker Rolls-Royce Motor Cars should more than double sales in the second quarter, in large part because of its Ghost model, David Archibald, president of Rolls-Royce in North America, said.
The Ghost, priced lower than the Phantom at $246,500, helped Rolls-Royce hit a record in global sales of 2,711 in 2010, up 167 percent over the previous year, he said.
"One of the things that Ghost has brought is a more viable business case in more cities," he said.
As a result, Rolls-Royce will increase the number of its dealers in China to 11 by the end of this year, up from eight, more than any other country but the United States.
The United States is still Rolls-Royce's biggest market, but China should overtake it "in the relative short term future," he said.
Archibald said there will be four new US Rolls-Royce dealerships this year. The automaker, a brand of Germany's BMW, now has 81 dealerships worldwide.
The sales of Rolls-Royce suggest that the ultra-luxury market has staged a comeback after the recent recession, he said.
"It's definitely gone past the bottom and it's growing from that point," he said.
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