Rolling on to record luxury
CREWE in Cheshire is one of England's biggest railway towns. Not the most obvious place, one would have thought, for the handover of the world's largest single order of Rolls-Royce motor cars.
Nine personalised Silver Spur IIIs worth GBP2.27 million (HK$26.5 million), including tax, have been bought by Hong Kong billionaire Michael Kadoorie for his exclusive Peninsula Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui.
The record order, in terms of numbers and cash value, will replace the hotel's existing fleet of eight Rolls-Royce Silver Spirits, which themselves set a record when they were bought in 1987 for $12 million.
For Mr Kadoorie, chairman of Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, which owns the Peninsula, it is his fifth order of the luxury cars in the past 23 years.
A hotel spokesman said: ''Our discerning guests are able to enjoy high levels of comfort and security, separated from the hustle and bustle of the city.'' For such comfort and luxury it will cost guests $650 for an airport round trip and the same amount per hour to hire.
Built in Crewe, each car comes equipped with a luxurious interior including tan hide seats and an iced-towel compartment to allow passengers to freshen up on the move.
The Peninsula order was a major boost for British company Rolls-Royce Motor Car, which claims to be on target to return to profit by the end of the year.
Handing over the nine sets of keys, complete with hand-crafted walnut cases, Rolls-Royce chairman and chief executive Peter Ward said he was proud to be linked with Hong Kong.
After the handover of the keys, a Chinese eye-dotting ceremony took place with Mr Kadoorie dotting the eyes of the flying lady mascot on each car with washable red paint to give them good luck.
The eight cars in the existing fleet will be sold to individual buyers when the new cars arrive in time for the opening of the hotel's 30-storey extension early next year.
Each car will cost about HK$11,000 to register in the territory, but considerably more to ship in.
The new fleet will be driven by a team of 14 chauffeurs, and is expected to complete 25,000 kilometres a year at about 16 km to the gallon.
The fleet will now compete with luxury limousines on offer at some of Hong Kong's other top hotels.
The Excelsior has a fleet of 10 Mercedes-Benz 300s, which are two or three years old.
The Hotel Conrad offers its guests eight Trasco Mercedes - four of them stretch limos, two Bentleys and a Toyota Shadow van.
In 1991, Rolls-Royce set another record in the territory with the world's longest procession of their cars - 114 of them stretching 1.6 km - being driven between Sha Tin racecourse and the Lam Kam interchange.
The record was broken in May this year when 125 cars drove in procession in Beverly Hills, California, where the newly opened Hotel Peninsula also has a fleet of the exclusive cars.