Rolls-Royce says demand for luxury cars is recovering

LONDON (Reuters) – The chief executive of Rolls-Royce said demand for his company’s luxury cars is rebounding, helped by sales in Asia, and he is optimistic about the outlook for next year after the coronavirus pandemic hit consumer confidence and closed dealerships.

Torsten Muller-Otvos said the demand meant Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc was the first car company to resume car production in the United Kingdom on May 4.

“We see a very fruitful business now coming back from Asia, also Europe is coming back on track, the Americas just delivered an excellent July result and August result,” the boss of the BMW-owned Rolls-Royce Motor Cars told Reuters.

“I am quite optimistic looking into 2021, particularly on the back of a very strong order bank we have already on our books.”

Muller-Otvos said his company has no plans to move production out of the United Kingdom because of Brexit.

“We are committed to Britain. I would even call us being part of the British industrial crown jewels,” he said. “For that reason, Rolls-Royce belongs to Britain.”

(Reporting by Gerhard Mey; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)