Vietnam considered a promising market for Rolls-Royce

January 15, 2012 | 20:06

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Ultra-luxury carmaker Rolls-Royce is looking to expand its market in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam.

After posting record sales in 2011 with Asia as the fastest growing market, Torsten Muller-Otvos, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars CEO, said that its surging sales were driven by increased demand from China and the United States (US), with a 47 per cent year-over-year growth in the Asia-Pacific, 17 per cent in North America and 23 per cent in the Middle East.

The German-owned British automaker announced that sales jumped 31 per cent to 3,538 vehicles last year, up from 2,711 in 2010, and was the highest-ever annual total in the company's 107-year history.

“Asia Pacific is the fastest-growing region. We have seen growth in literally all markets, including the Republic of Korea and Japan”, he said. “We are now entering Thailand and are looking also at Vietnam, as well as Indochina in a broader sense, to see what opportunities lie there”.

According to Muller-Otvos, Rolls-Royce will add three or four retail shops in China, which overtook the US in 2011 to become the company’s biggest market.

The firm's chief executive said he was upbeat about China sales despite concerns about a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy, adding that debt-riddled Europe presented a 'very mixed picture'.

“I am optimistic we definitely will see another record year for Rolls-Royce in 2012,” he added.

The Rolls-Royce trademark, purchased by BMW in 1998, currently has 14 distribution networks in China, and another dozen in the Asia-Pacific including Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Sydney, Melbourne and New Delhi.

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