Young Chinese get creative with Rolls-Royce

SHANGHAI: British luxury automaker Rolls-Royce is witnessing a shift in its Chinese customer base, marked by youthfulness, diversity and a demand for personalisation, according to a company senior executive.

Zhao Zhen, regional director of Greater China at Rolls-Royce, emphasises the brand’s deepening commitment to the market, citing Chinese clients as a key source of inspiration for global design innovation at a recent interview.

Rolls-Royce’s Chinese customers span a wide range of ages, with many of them owning more than one of the company’s cars, according to Zhao.

He mentions that younger customers from cities like Shenzhen in Guangdong province and Hangzhou in Zhejiang province are embracing innovative concepts, such as incorporating nebulae on the twinkling fibreoptics Starlight Headliner in the interior or featuring their baby’s footprint on their cars. And Rolls-Royce can help bring these ideas to life.

“The only limit to our creativity is the client’s imagination,” Zhao says.

This ethos is exemplified by the 2023 opening of the Private Office Shanghai, the brand’s only dedicated customisation centre in China, which can better cater to the diverse preferences of Chinese customers.

“Rolls-Royce provides customers with emotional value, customised experiences, exclusive works of art, which sets it apart from traditional car manufacturers,” Zhao says. Bespoke is Rolls-Royce, he adds.

In 2024, the average value of bespoke commissions in each handcrafted motor car was 10% higher than it was in 2023.

The company started the expansion of its only factory earlier this year with an investment of £300mil (US$388mil), the largest single amount in the plant since it opened in 2003.

“The investment is going to enable us to significantly extend our manufacturing plant in the United Kingdom to accommodate the rapidly growing demand that we are seeing for our bespoke programme,” says Chris Brownridge, CEO of Rolls-Royce.

Over the past two decades, the production capacity at the Goodwood factory has seen a breakthrough: the number of employees has increased from the initial 300 to more than 2,500, and the daily output has risen from one car to 28 cars.

In 2024, Rolls-Royce sold 5,712 cars, with the Cullinan SUV the most popular model. The Spectre electric car has surpassed expectations with its sales performance in the European market.

“We don’t measure our success with volume, and we never will. We create value by handcrafting individual personal masterpieces for each of our clients,” Brownridge says.

The company plans to launch its second pure electric model in 2025. Zhao mentions that although the company announced plans to be fully electric by 2030, the realisation of this goal will still depend on customer demand.

“Whether in terms of craftsmanship, materials or technology, Rolls-Royce has strong technical reserves. Ultimately, whether to apply these technologies to our products depends entirely on customer demand,” Zhao says.

In a separate report, China’s auto production and sales recorded significant year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in February, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

Passenger vehicles maintained strong performance, the commercial vehicle market rebounded, and new energy vehicles continued to see rapid expansion.

“Following the Chinese New Year holiday, companies accelerated production and operations, with new product launches and promotional activities stimulating demand,” says Chen Shihua, deputy secretary-general of the CAAM.

According to the CAAM data, car production and sales in February reached 2.1 million and 2.13 million units, respectively, reflecting y-o-y increases of 39.6% and 34.4%.

The growth rate of auto production expanded by 14.5 percentage points compared with January, while the growth rate of sales increased by 13.7 percentage points.

“This boost in market activity has provided a solid foundation for a strong first-quarter performance,” Chen adds.

In February, passenger vehicle sales hit 1.81 million units, up 36.2% from a year earlier. Notably, Chinese brands strengthened their market position.

Sales of Chinese-brand passenger vehicles reached 1.28 million units last month, up 62% y-o-y. Their market share rose to 70.6% – an increase of 11.2 percentage points from the same period of 2024.

In the first two months of 2025, total sales of Chinese-brand passenger vehicles stood at 2.74 million units, reflecting a 32.6% y-o-y increase and demonstrating strong market competitiveness.

“Since the beginning of the year, an expanded round of vehicle trade-in policies has been implemented, while technological advancements and product innovations have further stimulated demand,” Chen says.

“As a result, car production and sales have maintained steady growth,” he adds.

The commercial vehicle market also showed signs of recovery in February, with production reaching 318,000 units and sales totaling 313,000 units. These figures represent month-on-month increases of 6.3% and 7.8%, and y-o-y growth of 36.6% and 25%, respectively.

The new energy vehicle (NEV) market continued to expand rapidly.

CAAM data show that in February, NEV production and sales reached 888,000 and 892,000 units, respectively, reflecting y-o-y increases of 91.5% and 87.1%. NEVs accounted for 41.9% of total new vehicle sales during the month.

China’s vehicle exports remained strong in the first two months of 2025, with 911,000 units shipped overseas, marking a 10.9% y-o-y increase.

Among them, NEV exports reached 282,000 units, up 54.5%. Notably, plug-in hybrid vehicle exports saw significantly faster growth than pure electric vehicles, with 96,000 units shipped –an increase of 180 % y-o-y.

Meanwhile, exports of petrol-powered vehicles totalled 629,000 units, down 1.5% from same period of 2024.

At the corporate level, four automakers each exported more than 100,000 vehicles in the first two months, as the country’s top exporters.

Chery led with 167,000 units, followed by BYD with 141,000, SAIC Motor with 122,000, and Changan with 110,000. Among them, BYD recorded the most significant growth, with exports surging 130% y-o-y.

Chen emphasises that the combined effect of supportive policies will reinforce the auto industry’s steady growth, encourage innovation among enterprises, and drive high-quality development across the sector. — China Daily/ANN