By LAWRENCE TAN

British luxury marque Rolls-Royce is optimistic its latest model ‘Ghost’ will be a big hit alongside its other top-seller ‘Phantom’ models despite the gloomy economic outlook.

Rolls-Royce embarked on a world tour to show off the Ghost with a prototype nicknamed the EX200. The tour kicked off in New York and stopped by Singapore (its only Asian stopover), Miami, Los Angeles, and will head for London in June and round off in Cannes in July.

Speaking to reporters at the Reuters Global Luxury Summit in London, Rolls-Royce CEO Tom Purves says the tour has generated "overwhelmingly positive" feedback, and the company has received at least 1,500 confirmed orders (with placed deposits) from the more than 10,000 people who have expressed an interest. That figure would more than double the group’s annual sales, Reuters reports.

While sales of its other flagship model, the Phantom reached a record 1,200 in 2008, Purves is not predicting the same scenario for 2009.

He told Reuters: “We are trading reasonably well, just not on the scale of last year. We are bumping along the bottom ... I do not see things getting any worse."

Still, while other luxury automakers have announced job cuts and hiring freezes, Rolls-Royce not only managed to retain its workers, but also plans to double its manufacturing workforce to cope with the launch of Ghost.

“We've kept everybody on because we know we need them with the Ghost coming, and also because we know they are highly skilled and highly qualified and it is much better for us to retain them than not," Purves said.

Rolls-Royce

via Reuters