“That’s been the biggest change,” said Kelly Wolf, CEO of IndiGO Auto Group, which includes Rolls-Royce Rancho Mirage in California and Rolls-Royce North Houston. Customers now are “a little more youthful, a little more exciting.”
“The old kind of Grey Poupon stereotype is gone,” he said, referring to the mustard commercials from the 1980s which depicted two wealthy gentlemen, each riding in the back of a Rolls, with one asking the other whether he had that brand of dijon. “The new Rolls owner is driven, is edgy and typically is very successful. That works out good for us.”
Rolls-Royce’s average customer age has dropped to 43, the automaker said in August. It was 56 prior to 2010, when the Ghost joined the lineup and started the brand’s product push beyond the Phantom.
Rolls clients represent a broad mix, said Beau Rice, general manager at Hi Tech Motor Cars in Austin, Texas, which includes Rolls-Royce Austin. The buyer could be an attorney or physician, a venture capitalist or a professional athlete.
“I’m asked all the time, ‘Hey, what is your typical Rolls-Royce customer? What’s he or she look like?’ And my answer to that is they’re not typical. That’s what they look like,” said Wolf, who also is chairman of the Rolls-Royce dealer advisory board.
