Rolls Royce Believes It Has No Competitors

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Few years back, there was a time when Maybach was a standalone brand producing the 57 and 62 limousines, which directly targeted the Rolls Royce Phantom. Back then, director of global communications of Rolls Royce,  Richard Carter, said that the brand’s vehicle do not compete with other cars.

Mercedes Maybach

Mercedes Benz has revived the Maybach name as a sub brand for ultra-luxurious models but does Rolls Royce consider it the same? No. Not really. Rather, Rolls Royce views Mercedes-Maybach as a competitor for second hand Rolls-Royce vehicles.

“The Maybach is not a direct competitor to Rolls Royce, if you look at how we view our competition,” says Gerry Spahn, the head of communication for Rolls Royce in North America. Rolls Royce has surely set some high levels for itself by serving their customers with ultimate luxurious vehicles along with world class after sales service. “There may be areas where in a provenance program, whereby it’s a second owner, where a Maybach might be a competitor to a provenance Ghost. It’s a different design, different category for us. It’s a nice car, we just view it as not being a direct competitor,” he added.

Rolls Royce Ghost

When Spahn was asked in an interview as why Mercedes-Maybach S-class is not seen as a competitor even though having a similar price tag to that of Rolls Royce Ghost, Spahn answered that price doesn’t matter in this segment. “It is not the price. It has nothing to do with price, it’s positioning. Our owners buy a Rolls Royce because they want exclusivity and even though you can customize a Maybach or Bentley, the bespoke options on a Rolls Royce are way beyond.”

Rolls Royce in nowhere sees Mercedes Maybach as its competitor and it is proven by the detailing done by them for every individual purchaser.

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1 Comment
  1. Bilal Qureshi says

    I think he’s sort of right. Rolls Royce probably takes in more margins from its bespoke coachwork than it does from the cars themselves. And that custom work is probably a big share of revenue considering something like 90% of all Rolls Royce’s ordered are customized for individual owners. From that point of view, they’re pretty differentiated from Mercedes Maybach or Bentley.
    But still, there’s something about a business which admits to having zero competition that sends a red flag about management….

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