MIDDLE EAST ROLLS-ROYCE DEALERS BID FAREWELL TO TOM PURVES

Representatives from Rolls-Royce dealerships in the Middle East region, excluding Egypt since Bavarian Auto Group is no longer authorized Rolls Royce dealer in Egypt, convened near Laguna Beach, California, to discuss business development for the next decade and bid farewell to the outgoing CEO.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars CEO, Tom Purves, who will retire at the end of the month, commended Middle East dealerships for their contribution to furthering the brand’s presence in the region. Tom Purves started his career in 1967 as an apprentice engineer at Rolls-Royce, in the 1970s he was the area manager for Rolls-Royce in the Middle East, based in Kuwait.

General Managers and Brand Managers from the eight dealerships across six countries attended the meeting which was led by the Director of Sales and Marketing for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, Jolyon Nash, and Peter Schoppmann, Regional Director for the Middle East.

California also played host to the first dealer drive event for the marque’s highly- anticipated new model the Ghost, which begun delivery to customers in the Gulf region end of December. 2010 is set to be a year of significant growth and expansion for Rolls-Royce in the region with each dealership scheduled to launch a new or extended showroom in the coming months.

Tom Purves said, “It has been extremely rewarding for me to witness Rolls-Royce go from strength to strength in the Middle East. Our dealerships in the region have been outstanding representatives of the world’s pinnacle automotive brand and with the launch of new or extended facilities this year are set to further build on their success.�

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars recently confirmed strong sales in the region with four Middle East dealers amongst the global top ten dealerships. The two dealerships with the richest Bespoke specifications worldwide in 2009 were also from the region underpinning the Middle East’s appetite for individuality and exclusivity in the luxury segment.

The California dealer meeting also provided Rolls-Royce’s new CEO Torsten M?¼ller-?–tv?¶s, with the opportunity to meet representatives from around the region for the first time.

Rolls Royce is extremely popular in the Middle East region and almost every head-of-state, king or president in the region has at least one Rolls Royce model in the region.

Egypt however, which is one of the emerging and promising automotive markets in the Middle East region, has not been able to put the Rolls Royce brand in the position it deserves. That was mainly because of the
its former dealer in Cairo, the Bavarian Auto Group, who were concentrating and paying more attention to its other brands Brilliance, Mahindra, BMW and MINI.

I am very confident that Rolls Royce, especially the Rolls Royce Ghost, can compete extremely successful in Egypt against the other established competitors such as the Audi A8, the Maserati Quattroporte, the BMW 7 series and the Mercedes S-Class, if the decision-makers at Goodwood will pick up a new Rolls Royce dealer in Cairo which not only has an excellent reputation, but also is professional and experienced in dealing with high-profile and exclusive customers.

MS