Automotive News Canada - May 2021 - 18

ROLLING
FORWARD
18

Steadily increasing
sales means it's time
for this country's four
dealerships to at least
partly break away
from U.S. control
By STEPHANIE WALLCRAFT
TORONTO CORRESPONDENT

When asked whether plans
existed to expand the number
of retailers, Wilson said Canada
was " very
well-served " by its four retailers.
Rolls-Royce is represented in
Toronto by the luxury dealership
group Grand Touring Automobiles;
in Montreal by Holand Automotive
Group; in Vancouver by OpenRoad
Auto Group, which has dealerships in
Greater Vancouver, Greater Toronto
and the Pacific Northwest; and a new
fourth location in Calgary by Grand
Touring Automobiles, expected to
open in late June or early July.

STEADY SALES GROWTH HAS LED
ultraluxury brand Rolls-Royce to
appoint a country manager for the
ROLLS SERIOUS ABOUT CANADA
first time to oversee operations in
Canada.
Adding the country manager posiMatthew Wilson, 43, who will be
tion allows Rolls to centralize funcbased out of the BMW head office near
tions such as marketing and media
Toronto, was promoted effective Feb. 1.
relations and apply them consistently
Previously, Wilson was nationacross Canada, Spahn said.
al manager of product planning
Wilson's appointment sigfor BMW Group Canada for
nals a more serious commore than eight years.
mitment by Rolls-Royce to
Canada is one of the three
Canada, said Gad Bitton, CEO
fastest-growing markets for
of Holand Automotive Group.
Rolls-Royce globally, said
" They'll be able to do a lot
Gerry Spahn, a spokesman
of things that they can't do
for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
right now, " Bitton said. " For
Americas. What was once a
instance, if you have an auto
double-digit sales market has
Bitton: The
show, everything [for the disgrown to triple digits for the
appointment
play currently] has to come
of a country
past three years: 108 units in
from the U.S. It's a clear sign
2018, 228 in 2019 as the Cullinan manager is
Rolls-Royce is evolving. "
" a clear sign "
SUV was added to the portfoA centralized Canadian
lio, and 160 units in 2020 during Rolls-Royce
head office will help retailers
is serious
a capacity reduction at the
across the country unite under
about its
brand's plant in Goodwood,
a common Canadian identity,
England, because of COVID-19, presence
said Paul Gilbert, Rolls-Royce
in Canada.
according to the Automotive
brand specialist at Grand
SUPPLIED
News Research and Data
Touring Automobiles.
PHOTO
Center in Detroit.
" Right now, we basically
" North America is the largest
operate off U.S. pricing, and it does
market for Rolls-Royce globally, and
create some confusion and is not as
Canada pulls its weight, " Spahn told
cohesive as we'd like it to be, " Gilbert
Automotive News Canada. " There are
said. Pricing across the Rolls-Royce
not many [markets] that are the size
portfolio currently ranges from Cdn
of Canada that are triple-digit markets
$400,000 to $1,000,000-plus depending
for us. "
on the nature of customizations.

Rolls retailer Grand Touring
accustomed to customization
THE TORONTO-BASED
ultraluxury dealership Grand
Touring Automobiles was RollsRoyce's Global Bespoke Dealer of
the Year in 2019.
The award is presented annually to the dealer who produces the
most unique array of custom-designed commissions.
Grand Touring Automobiles
was selected from among 135 dealerships in 50 markets worldwide.
Paul Gilbert, a Rolls-Royce
brand specialist at Grand Touring
Automobiles, said the dealership prepared several cars in 2019
that featured extensive custom

designing. These include use of
the brand's then-new crystalline
paints, a Cullinan SUV finished
entirely in white, inside and out,
and a Dark Phantom that was one
of five produced globally.
The Bespoke award is based, in
part, on client satisfaction, " RollsRoyce said. The award is not based
on " selling more content " but on
how dealers work with clients
to develop the highest level of
bespoke.
Teams at Rolls-Royce's
Goodwood operation in England
select the winner. - ANC

* M AY 2 0 2 1

Matthew Wilson is
Rolls-Royce's first country
manager in Canada.
PHOTO: ROLLS-ROYCE

There are not many countries
that are the size of Canada that
are triple-digit markets for us.
GERRY SPAHN

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Americas
" A Canadian identity would
[include] a Canadian MSRP and
Canadian pricing list, " Gilbert said.
The ultraluxury market was hit
hard in Canada in 2020, with some
subsegments down as much as 50 per
cent, said Robert Karwel, senior manager of the Power
Information Network
for J.D. Power in
Toronto.
Karwel attributed the sales plunge to
supply constraints.
He noted a price
increase of six per
cent to an average of
Gilbert: A
$390,000 in the ultracentralized
luxury segment last
head office
year compared with
will help unite
2019 and a reduction
Rolls retailers
in time-to-sale to less
across
than 50 days from
Canada.
more than 90.
Among the
" We suspect super- benefits is
premium customCanadian
ers were not greatpricing rather
ly impacted by the
than prices in
COVID situation last
U.S. dollars.
year, but their ability S U P P L I E D
PHOTO
to locate and secure
an exotic vehicle may
have been, " Karwel
said.
As production picks back up, RollsRoyce expects to deliver a record
number of commissions in Canada in
2021, Spahn said.
A custom-designed Rolls-Royce
ordered in Canada in March would
be delivered in the fourth quarter,
Wilson said. - ANC

AWD Rolls?
A Ghost
of a chance
INPUT FROM CUSTOMERS,
including those from Canada,
prompted Rolls-Royce to incorporate all-wheel drive into the
next-generation Ghost sedan, the
automaker said.
Demand for an AWD sedan
has been increasing in recent
years, and the automaker used
customer feedback from Canada
and other markets in the Ghost's
development, said Gerry Spahn,
a spokesman for Rolls-Royce
Motor Cars Americas.
" We did find that more
Canadians were looking for a
Rolls-Royce sedan that's allwheel drive, while Americans
tended to want the SUV. " .
The redesigned Ghost is powered by a twin-turbocharged 6.75litre V-12 engine producing 563
horsepower and 627 pound-feet
of torque. On top of AWD and allwheel steering, it incorporates
a predictive air suspension that
combines data from GPS and the
car's forward-facing camera to
anticipate road-surface irregularities and prepare the dampers to
respond in advance.
While design possibilities are limited only by one's
chequebook, an example provided for media in Toronto featured
power-closing doors, a headliner fitted with lights to resemble
stars, and a dashboard insert
with a starlike effect created by
drilling 850 holes into six panes
of layered glass.
A 2021 Ghost that was part of
a March media event in Toronto
retails for about $500,000. - ANC
Canadian
customers
wanted it, and
now the next
generation of
the Rolls-Royce
Ghost sedan
has all-wheel
drive.
PHOTO:
ROLLS-ROYCE

Automotive News Canada - May 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - May 2021