A Ghost by any other name

Yeoh Siew Hoon catches up with Rolls-Royce Asia Pacific's outgoing director, and finds out how the newest model of the luxury brand will take the company to the top in Asia, never mind Chinese superstitions and all that.

It costs more money than I will probably see in my lifetime. And it's called Ghost. You would think with a name like that, it wouldn't sell in Asia with its superstitious beliefs. But Rolls-Royce is expecting that it will see the biggest take-up of its newest model in this part of the world.

A month before he was due to step down as regional director of Rolls-Royce Asia Pacific, I had a chance to catch up with Colin Kelly to talk about his seven-year career in Asia as well as the launch of the Ghost.

"We say it phonetically. We feel the historic cache of the name more than outweighs any potential superstition it could have."
Today, Asia Pacific and the UK & Europe are tied as the second biggest markets, after North America.

Selling a luxury brand in a year when the bottom fell out of the luxury market - there was a decline in sales between July 2008 and July 2009 - was challenging but Kelly said the market started turning round towards the end of 2009.

"Sales are picking up. I think what's changed is the "permission to buy". The people who can afford a Rolls-Royce still have the money but at the height of the crisis, it wouldn't have been right if, you were laying off staff or closing factories, to be driving round in a Rolls-Royce.

"But the lifestyle of the wealthy hasn't changed that much and it's started to come back in Asia Pacific. The first signs are in India - people are feeling good again - and in China."

And in a year when most brands, even luxury ones, were discounting, Kelly said Rolls-Royce held firm. "We try not to discount. There is no need. People of course like to drive a bargain and there is a lot of negotiating going on but there is more demand than supply when it comes to our type of product."

The Internet has also changed the way people buy cars, even for a high-end brand like Rolls-Royce. With its high price tags, there is very little ecommerce through the website but "what we've found is people price shop, the look for prices around the world and they find out where the best deals are".

"I am astonished by how much they know before they show up at our door. They read up on the information and user reviews so that by the time they come in, it's often to negotiate for the best deal," said Kelly.

In a news report, real-estate tycoon Duong Thi Bach Diep said of the arrival of her custom-made Rolls-Royce Phantom 2008 - "I cried when I first saw it. All the security and customs officials at the airport shared the joy with me when it arrived."