Less bling, more zing for luxury car owners

AUSTRALIANS may be among the world’s most conservative customers when it comes to the purchase of luxury vehicles, but top-end dealerships expect figures for 2012 to show strong growth in sales.

The trend for Australia and the Asia-Pacific region mirrors that of other countries, with 2010 marking a turning point in the sector’s fortunes.

According to Chellingworth dealer principal Greg Arnold, who has been selling Bentley and Porsche cars in Perth for more than 20 years, the past 12 months are likely to be the business’s best since 2007.

Western Australians bought about 14 per cent of all the Bentleys and Porsches sold in Australia this year.

And it is in this marketplace that one of the world’s most iconic brands hopes to cement its place, with xecutives from Rolls Royce Motor Cars intensifying their search for a potential Perth partner.

Rolls Royce regional director Paul Harris told WA Business News strong demand in this region since 2010 had been significant.

“If we take this region, excluding China, then our growth since 2010 has been four or five fold,” Mr Harris said.

Rolls Royce hopes to have chosen a partner in Perth by February, and opened a Perth showroom by the end of 2013.

While only a single Rolls Royce has been sold in WA this year, South and East Asia Pacific general manager Dan Balmer said establishing a showroom in Perth would enable the company to capitalise on existing levels of interest.

“We find in Australia, more than any other market in the region, that buyers are far more considered in their purchasing,” he said.

“They usually consider it for a long time, and to not be present in the market is to miss out on that opportunity.”

In addition to their considered purchases, Mr Balmer said Australian buyers were far more measured in their approach to modifying their Rolls Royces. The ‘bespoke’ option offered by the brand allows customers to make modifications to any part of the car.

“Australians are far more private in their bespoke choices,” Mr Balmer said.

“Here you’ll mainly see interior modifications, and requests for luggage sets and hampers, in contrast to a more extreme end of the market like the Mddle East, where you will see the two-tone cars and orange exteriors.” This approach to luxury car purchases is evident across a range of other luxury marques. In addition to the muted customer response to the Rolls Royce Ghost’s extended-wheel model, last month Lexus Australia announced it would drop its long wheelbase Lexus LS, saying at the time the Australian market had shifted from a ‘driven’ market to a ‘drivers’ market.

Mr Arnold said he had observed this in his dealings with customers.

“Particularly in WA, but also generally across the country, people tend to drive their own cars; they don’t like to be ferried around,” he said.