Rolls-Royce set to launch new, smaller model

SHANGHAI - BMW's Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd. plans to launch a "smaller" model before the end of the decade that would cost around a third less than its Phantom luxury sedan.

"We are working on a smaller car," Ian Robertson, chairman and CEO, told Reuters on the eve of the Shanghai Auto Show.

"A relatively smaller car," he added.

The car would be priced between the Phantom and a BMW 7-Series car, and comes after the automaker recently introduced its convertible Phantom Drophead Coupe.

"We should more than double our overall sales with a broader market," Robertson said. The company now makes and sells about 800 cars annually, lagging a long-sought goal of 1,000.

"The design is finished and the first prototypes should be running very shortly," he said, adding the company will soon start reengineering its factory to put in a second manufacturing line.

It will be a very attractive car for China, he added. The average price of a Rolls-Royce in China is around $900,000, but last year the company sold one for $2.3 million.

Rolls-Royce will add two new dealerships in China in the coming year for a total of seven, a network that is second only to the United States.

© Reuters 2007.