Rolls-Royce launches $311,000 car as CEO says demand for luxury vehicles is returning to normal
- British car maker Rolls-Royce says the market for luxury cars is "more or less" back to normal.
- It has just launched the new model of the Rolls-Royce Ghost.
The chief executive of British luxury car-maker Rolls-Royce has said demand is returning to normal as the company launched a new vehicle that costs more than the average house in Britain.
Speaking at the launch of the new Rolls-Royce Ghost on Wednesday, Torsten Muller-Otvos told the BBC that demand is now "more or less back to normal" in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
The Rolls-Royce Ghost is expected to retail at £250,000 ($332,617) in Britain, making it more expensive than the average house, which costs £231,855. In the U.S., the car is likely to cost upwards of $311,000.
Rolls-Royce sales were down 30% in the first half of the year but, Muller-Otvos said things were now looking up for the Goodwood-headquartered company.
The car manufacturer, which competes with the likes of Bentley and Aston Martin, said the latest Ghost had been completely redesigned.
"The new Rolls-Royce Ghost is the most technologically advanced Rolls-Royce yet," Muller-Otvos said in a statement. "It distills the pillars of our brand into a beautiful, minimalist, yet highly complex product that is perfectly in harmony with our Ghost clients' needs and perfectly in tune with the times."
In a promotional video, Muller-Otvos said the car, which comes with a 6.75-liter twin-turbo V12 engine, is designed to "whisper" and not to "shout".