11:57 am, July 3, 2023
Rolls-Royce customers who attempt to sell their new Spectre models for a profit to used car dealers will be banned from buying another for life.
Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös told Car Dealer that any attempts to cash in on the hugely popular new car will result in them being blacklisted.
Speaking at the launch of the new car in California, he said: ‘I can tell you we are really sanitising the need to prove who you are, what you want to do with the car – you need to qualify for a car and then you might get a slot for an order.
‘[If they sell the car on] they’re going immediately on a blacklist and this is it – you will never ever have the chance to acquire again.’
Despite this, supercar dealer Tom Hartley – known for selling second hand Rolls Royce models his entire career – said he has already agreed £50,000 premiums for two Spectres.
Hartley said he will have a Spectre for sale at his used car dealership ‘within two weeks of it being launched’.
The new car goes on sale this summer with first deliveries of the car in the autumn. Spectres start at £330,000 but most will leave the factory gates costing north of £450k.
Hartley said: ‘Money talks and manufacturers will never stop successful entrepreneurs, businessmen and aristocrats from selling their cars.
‘I have already agreed to buy two Spectres from customers. I do not think it is fair for car makers to tell customers who have spent close to half a million pounds on a car what they can do with it.
‘It’s not right. People’s circumstances change, they could have a genuine reason for the sale such as financial problems.’
Hartley said the new Spectre – the first electric Rolls Royce – will enjoy a premium for a short time and some owners will want to cash in on that.
He added: ‘This will be an amazing car and in London where having one first is important, it will command a premium.
‘But that premium will be short lived. It’s an “in vogue” situation. People want to be the first with the new toy which gives people a short window to make a profit.
‘The people who buy these cars are business people and in that world sometimes a healthy profit talks.’
Müller-Ötvös added that some 40 per cent of Spectre buyers are expected to be new to the brand.
He added: ‘Many buyers see Spectre as the very first proposition in the ultra luxury segment to go electric and that is quite something.
‘It’s a similar kind of feeling as in 2007, to carry your very first iPhone in your pocket to be seen behind the wheel of a Spectre.’
