Rolls Royce records 12 rise in sales

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars recorded a 12 per cent rise in sales during 2014 despite the holding company announcing job cuts.

The luxury car maker sold 4,063 vehicles during the past 12 months hitting record figures for the fifth year in a row. The 2014 results represented the first time the company has passed the 4,000 mark in its illustrious history. Sales in the US, Europe and Middle East grew substantially with a boost of 40 per cent across the pond.

North America now accounts for Rolls-Royce's top regional figures with the US topping the market. The likes of China, United Arab Emirates, the UK and Saudi Arabia make up the rest of the top five largest markets for the company. In Europe, Germany saw the highest sales growth up by 30 per cent while the likes of Australia, Japan and Korea recorded increases of 75 per cent, 60 per cent and 20 per cent respectively.

Torsten Muller-Otvos, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars chief executive officer, said: "The result confirms that our strategy of balanced, sustainable and profitable growth is delivering and that Rolls-Royce remains the world's leading luxury goods brand.

"This extraordinary success has been built on strong foundations: pinnacle products, dedicated people and a commitment to ensuring a balanced global sales picture."

Mr Muller-Otvos highlighted the new Ghost Series II, launched in November, and Wraith as being the main drivers for the company's strong performance. The latter enjoyed its first full year of sales while the Ghost Series II saw strong orders since its release towards the end of 2014.

Rolls-Royce's strong sales figures comes after it announced that it would be making job cuts across its operations in the next 18 months. In November, the company's engineering operations stated that around 2,600 positions would be cut from its global workforce of 55,000.

Despite the sales figures, Rolls-Royce's share price opened 0.82 per cent down at 846.50 as of 08:51 GMT on Tuesday (January 6th).

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