Rolls-Royce launches Wraith

The luxury auto maker yesterday unveiled Wraith, a HK$5.5 million gran turismo which goes on sale later this year.For the Wraith roll out, Rolls-Royce is starting, it seems, with a fresh approach to launching and developing a new marque.For starters, Wraith moves away from the chauffeur-driven mentality of the Phantom and Ghost and offers up a range of bespoke elements from voice activated commands down to different types of wood and leather each vehicle's interior can carry.The group last week held a forum with the likes of Google, Quintessentially, Wealth-X and the publishers of Billionaire magazine to gain fresh insight into the luxury market, including the role of social and digital media, to how tastes and the thinking of ultra high net worth individuals have changed.Rolls-Royce is also hoping Wraith will attract more female customers, but for now the tone of its advertising is skewed towards men."Wraith is a growth model," said Dan Balmer, the former Asia Pacific marketing director and now general manager for Rolls-Royce across the region."We always wanted a car like this. It will bring the brand to a whole new level of people," he added.Balmer said closed room events to promote Wraith are seeing 75% new customers.Wraith also signals a new approach to marketing for the group, with Facebook playing a much larger role than every before.In India, Balmer said some 75% of sales leads were from digital platforms, with markets like Thailand and Philippines also responding strongly to social."For the super wealthy, the jury is still out about social media, but if you don't do it, how will you know if it works?"