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Audi Ferrari Lamborghini Porsche Rolls-Royce

Megafactories mega week

National Geographic channel - Megafactories

Australian Foxtel subscribers are in for a treat this week with five Megafactories episodes airing on the National Geographic Channel. Some of the car world’s most desirable brands are showcased.

On Monday you can learn all about the Lamborghini Murcielago SV; Tuesday is Rolls Royce Phantom day; Wednesday is all about the Audi R8; Thursday is devoted to the Porsche 911; Friday is spent inside the Ferrari factory at Maranello.

The episodes air at 5:30pm and run for one hour, so make sure you have your recorders at the ready on channel 610.

Categories
News Rolls-Royce

High Rollers raise stakes

Rolls-Royce - Spirit of Ecstacy

Rolls-Royce is bucking the trend of financial disaster in this carpocalypse now era. Yesterday, the Goodwood based company proudly announced a 20 per cent growth in sales during 2008. Last year 1212 Rollers found new homes, up from 1010 in 2007. That marks their fifth consecutive year of increasing sales.

“This is a tremendous result and particularly gratifying considering the challenging economic environment manufacturers faced in the second half of 2008,” said Tom Purves, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. “Once again much of this success lies with the highly skilled and dedicated workforce that we have at Goodwood”.

Given the gravity of the financial meltdown in the United States some may be surprised to learn that almost 40 per cent of Rolls-Royce deliveries headed Stateside. Northern Europe and the Middle East also saw big spikes on 2007 figures, up 95% and 48% respectively. Even Australia did its part in boosting BMW’s balance sheet in the RR column, with sales also growing here.

It will come as no surprise that the most successful Rolls-Royce dealer worldwide is in Abu Dhabi. While Beijing, Beverly Hills, Dubai and London rounded out the top five.

Can sales continue to grow for a sixth consecutive year? I can’t imagine the chaps at Goodwood are banking on that. However, preparations are underway for the introduction of a brand new model series, currently named RR4, due later this year (design sketch images below).