AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)01/08 Report--

Luxury brand Rolls-Royce has seen a surge in sales at a time when the global economic slowdown and a weak car market have led to a decline in sales by automakers such as Volkswagen and Ford. Rolls-Royce announced on its website that sales for the whole of 2019 were up 25% from 2018, the highest in the brand's history.

The 116-year-old British company said it sold a record 5152 cars in 2019, compared with 4107 in 2018. North America remains the biggest contributor to Rolls-Royce, accounting for 1/3 of Rolls-Royce's total sales, followed by China and Europe (including the UK). In addition, sales in Russia, Singapore, Japan, Australia, Qatar and South Korea hit record highs.

In terms of models, the Phantom series firmly holds the top spot in sales, while Obsidian and Phantom continue to lead their respective market segments. It is worth noting that the first model of the brand

The SUV Curinan made an important contribution to sales. In May 2018, Rolls-Royce officially announced its first SUV model, named Cullinan, which sells for $325000. Rolls-Royce Curinan's sales accounted for about 40% of Rolls-Royce's total sales in 2019, to about 2000 vehicles, surpassing the record set in 2018.

Rolls-Royce CEO said in a statement that strong global demand for Curinan made a positive contribution to growth last year and expects this momentum to continue until 2020. Carmakers, including Audi, Daimler and Nissan, cut thousands of jobs and closed several factories in 2019 because of a slowdown in global car sales.

Some media pointed out that as of January 4, sales (including commercial vehicles) in the world's major markets in the first 11 months of 2019 were 72.6 million, down 4 per cent from the same period last year. With global new car sales expected to decline for two consecutive years in 2019, layoffs and restructurings are likely to accelerate in many countries.

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