Rolls-Royce picks luxury-loving Chennai for Phantom launch

This is about 12 per cent more expensive (considering base price) for customers than other Rolls-Royce models.

Chennai’s appetite for luxury products was apparent with the state’s consumption for high-end vehicles showing an upward trajectory. K Venkatesh, CEO, KUN Motor says “TN accounts for 40 per cent of consumption for any product launched in south. Tiruchy, Madurai and Coimbatore are well-developed luxury hubs, unlike neighbouring states, where consumption is city-centric. Karnataka has Dharwad; Kerala has Kochi and Thiruvanthapuram while in Andhra, Vijayawada is where luxury sales are picking up.”

TN has a better HNI (high net-worth individuals) spread than Karnataka where luxury cars, for instance, are concentrated in the city of Bengaluru. The luxury car market sales in Chennai sees close to 200 units per month, whereas Bengaluru is estimated to be 140 cars. In the affordable category too, sales from the TN capital (2,700 Maruti cars a month) exceed its sister city Bengaluru, where monthly sales of this brand of cars are about 2,000.

The Rolls-Royce story is no different. Tamil Nadu has tied with North in terms of sales and this includes post-DeMon figures too. “In south, TN leads followed by Andhra and Kerala,” Venkatesh said. Kun’s touch points are in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Vijayawada and Hyderabad.