COVID helped Rolls-Royce sell a record 5,586 cars last year as the pandemic made the super-rich realise ‘life can be short’.
The luxury marque, whose cars are priced from £233,000 to £432,000, sold the most vehicles globally in its 117-year history.
Chief executive Torsten Muller-Otvos said: ‘Many people witnessed people in their community dying from Covid and that made them think life can be short and you’d better live now rather than postpone until a later date.
'That also has helped quite massively to [encourage people to] invest into what I would call the nice, lovely things in the world.’
The Sussex-based company, owned by BMW, saw sales rise in every region of the world.
German Mr Muller-Otvos explained: ‘It is very much due to Covid that the entire luxury business is booming worldwide.
‘People couldn’t travel a lot, they couldn’t invest a lot into luxury services…and there is quite a lot of money accumulated that is spent on luxury goods.’
Many buyers were adding to their existing Rolls-Royce collections as most owners have more than one.
The firm said it enjoyed 'a phenomenal year' with high demand for all models, particularly the Ghost limousine and Cullinan SUV, reporting all-time records in most sales regions, including Greater China, the Americas and Asia-Pacific, and in multiple countries across the world.
Rolls-Royce at full production capacity: The luxury car maker's Goodwood plant is working flat-out building bespoke vehicles for clients around the world, posting record sales in 2021
With order books extending into the third quarter of 2022, the company with a boutique factory at Goodwood in West Sussex said bespoke commissions were also at record levels, with customers typically spending double the basic list price to customise their vehicle to their personal tastes. Sometimes the final tally can be much higher
Rolls-Royce proclaimed itself the 'undisputed leader' in the super-luxury segment for cars priced over £250,000.
Chief executive Torsten Müller-Ötvös told This is Money: 'It's very much down to Covid, as with the entire luxury business world-wide.
'People cannot travel a lot. They cannot invest in luxury services.
'For that reason there's a lot of money accumulated worldwide to be spent on luxury goods. We've all profited from that.'
On a serious note he said: 'People are dying from Covid. It makes people think that life can be short and that it's better to live now.'
He added that despite 2021 being a 'volatile and challenging' year, the biggest challenge was not seeking customers, but satisfying demand which has been 'never stronger.'
Waiting times for a new Rolls-Royce are currently running at one year.
Mr Müller-Ötvös said: 'If you order a Rolls-Royce today you will expect to take delivery in about a year from now.'
The Cullinan SUV and Ghost each accounted for 40 per cent of total sales.
Other highlights of the past year included: the unveiling of partially disguised first all-electric production car called Spectre – set for showrooms in 2023 after a year of testing around the world; the launch of Black Badge Ghost in October (priced from £325,000 or £100,000 above the standard Ghost); and the unveiling of its coachbuilt £20million Boat Tail (one of three separate and unique commissions) marking the launch of Rolls-Royce Coachbuild as a permanent fixture in its portfolio.
Spelling out its success, the company said: 'All Rolls-Royce models performed extremely strongly.
'Growth has been driven principally by Ghost, with demand surging further, following the launch of Black Badge Ghost in October 2021.
'This, together with the continuing pre-eminence of Cullinan and the marque's pinnacle product, Phantom, has ensured order books are full well into the third quarter of 2022.'
The British luxury car maker announced the highest sales in its 117 year history – up by a dramatic 49% year-on-year to 5,586 vehicles
Record sales were driven by its latest new model, the updated Ghost limousine (pictured)
Also helping boost demand to record levels was the Cullinan - Rolls-Royce's first SUV model that is proving extremely popular among the super rich
The company's Provenance programme for 'pre-owned' or second hand vehicles also enjoyed 'exceptional' all-time record sales.
Record bespoke commissions were boosted by
