The average Rolls-Royce customer is probably younger than you expected
Back in 2010, the average age of a Rolls-Royce customer was 56. A decade and a half later, that number has dropped significantly. Your first instinct might be to lay blame at the feet of a still-exploding tech field, but you’d only be half right. In fact, the reason Rolls-Royce customers are starting to skew younger may be because the brand made the controversial jump to electrification. That’s right — the all-electric Rolls-Royce Spectre is leading the charge and dropping the average age of Rolls-Royce customers like a stone.
Rolls-Royce’s President says its first EV is growing the brand in all kinds of ways
According to an interview with The Drive, the Rolls-Royce Spectre is attracting a new kind of buyer. President of Rolls-Royce North America, Jon Colbeth, claims that the average age of someone buying a Spectre as their introduction to the brand is just 35 years old. It’s part of the reason that the current average age of a Rolls-Royce customer hovers around 42 years old — nearly 15 years younger than it was well, fifteen years earlier. “Tech is important to youthful clients,” Colbeth told The Drive. “That’s why the Spectre has resonated with those looking to buy their first Rolls-Royce.”
The new technology, materials, and design are central to the age changeup, Colbeth continues, but the Spectre’s success story extends further than just attracting younger buyers. It’s also finding a lot of new buyers, which is arguably a more important figure to look at. Rolls-Royce’s President says that 40 percent of people purchasing a Spectre are completely new to the brand. As a reminder, the Spectre Black Badge — not something Rolls originally had in mind for the EV — is the most powerful Rolls-Royce model ever. It launched earlier this year, bringing an incredible 659 horsepower and 792 pound-feet of torque, new 23-inch wheels, new options, and new paint finishes to what was already an attractively styled and super exclusive luxury coupe.
Rolls-Royce
Is the falling age of Rolls-Royce customers a foreshadowing for other engine-centric brands?
One takeaway from the Spectre’s impact on Rolls-Royce is that hope may not be lost for brands that have largely built their reputations around the combustion engine. Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche, and others find their identity inextricably tied to their combustion engines. That’s a party Rolls-Royce and its iconic V12 engines would definitely have been invited to, if not hosting. The brand’s success with the Spectre clearly illustrates that electrification is a valid path forward for almost any brand. While old buyers may leave, new buyers are seemingly excited and ready to join the queue.
Final thoughts
Rolls-Royce claims that the Spectre was “the most requested Rolls-Royce model in Europe last year and the second most demanded globally” in 2024. Incredibly, it also notes that the model boasted the “second-highest level of Bespoke content per motor car” in the brand’s portfolio. Electrification is unfolding for Rolls-Royce at an explosive level that no one really saw coming. Driving the average customer age down tells volumes about the brand’s staying power, too. Small design tweaks that have kept the brand instantly recognizable, combined with excellent powertrains and continued excellence in materials and presentation, have ensured the Goodwood automaker is here to stay before and after electrification.
