How Rolls-Royce drivers are a lot younger than you may think

According to Rolls-Royce’s chief executive officer Torsten Müller-Ötvös, the bulk of the brand’s buyers are surprisingly young.

“We are seeing, in that segment of ultra high-end-growth individuals, a fast decrease in average age,” says Müller-Ötvös.

The global average age of a Rolls-Royce customer is 45 years old, down from 56 seven years ago, he said. That’s lower than the average age of car buyers overall, which hovers near 52, and younger than the average age of luxury car buyers, too, which is 50.

Buick, for instance, has an average new-buyer age of 59. At Cadillac it’s 52, at Mercedes-Benz it’s 51, and at BMW it’s 50, according to vehicle evaluation company KBB. Land Rover’s average customer is 45, the youngest of any included in the data. (Rolls-Royce was not among the brands reviewed in that report – its numbers are internal.) Bentley, reported an average buyer age of 56.2 years in 2014, though that number is likely lower now.

Why does attracting a young(ish) buyer pool matter? For one thing, it prevents against the hypothetical eventuality that your customers eventually die off. Older buyers tend to be loyal buyers, but as they age, their numbers naturally dwindle.

More immediately, it has to do with brand image. If pensioners are the ones driving your cars, the rest of the world inevitably associates the brand with their age set. That doesn’t exactly foster future buying excitement.