Rolls Royce sees sales hit by a fall in demand from China
Rolls Royce is feeling the effect of China's slowdown, with CEO, Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes stating that the company had been surprised by how fast the Chinese market "completely changed direction". He specifically highlighted the anti-corruption clamp-down, with the Chinese authorities investigating its people over where their money comes from, causing its citizens to shy away from luxury goods, since they are frightened to appear affluent. &nbsp;However, Mr Mueller-Oetvoes says that though there will be a dent in its volume line due to China, he believes it will be a short-term blip, as they get ready to launch a new car on the market next year.
Rolls-Royce dented by anti-corruption moves in China

Rolls-Royce yesterday conceded that sales of its luxury cars have been hit by a fall in demand in China.

The chief executive Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes, talking to the BBC World Service’s World Business Report, said the turnaround in the market had been unexpectedly fast.

“We have been surprised by the speed of development in the Chinese market in a completely different direction,” he said.

Chinese buyers have been affected by slower growth, a stock market slump and a crack down on corruption.

He was speaking on the day the luxury car maker launched Dawn, its new £250,000, 155 mph convertible, which the company has described as “the sexiest Rolls-Royce ever built”.

Mueller-Oetvoes said: “The whole anti-corruption campaign… is very much around investigating where your money is from, to whom you are related and so on and so forth.

“That, of course, scares people who are quite affluent, and no one wants to be visible currently in that kind of environment and people are shying away from… obvious luxury goods, and that is not only true of cars but for jewellery and for precious watches.”

However, he added: “I am not in any way scared about that. We may see a dent in our volume line due to China, but that is a partial dent.

“And in particular with the new car that we will launch next year, the Rolls-Royce Thorn, I am very optimistic.”