The chief executive of Rolls-Royce said demand for their luxury cars is rebounding helped by sales in Asia and 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 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.”
Daimler has launched a new Mercedes-Benz S-Class and its most profitable model is particularly important for the company as it battles the fallout from the pandemic and a costly switch to electric cars.
“The S-Class is an important driver of image and, measured by margin, the largest source of profits,” says Frank Schwope, an analyst at Norddeutsche Landesbank.
Petrol and diesel prices rose for the third month in a row but data from RAC Fuel Watch show they don’t appear to be rapidly heading back to pre-pandemic levels.
A litre of unleaded rose half a penny in August to 114.88p and diesel by a third of a penny to 118.47p meaning both fuels are still 13p cheaper than they were at the end of January (petrol – 128p; diesel 132p).
Volvo Cars is introducing a new Care by Volvo subscription service in the UK, which gives customers easy, flexible and convenient access to the car they want, together with associated servicing and maintenance, assistance and data services, all covered by a single monthly payment from £559 a month.
The service is being rolled out nationwide following a successful regional trial and is designed to be an attractive alternative for customers who choose not to lease or buy a brand-new car and the company claims covers more aspects of car ownership with greater flexibility than any other comparable service currently on the market in the UK.