It’s a crystal-clear morning on Ajax mountain and my new friend and I have just spent the 3,200-foot lift ride discussing the challenge of raising young kids, the insidiousness of work travel and the impossibility of staying in shape as we approach a certain age.
The 11,000-foot summit reveals a peerless view of Aspen below, setting the stage for a picture-perfect morning of carving and conversation. We chase the snow session with lunch at the quaint-yet-trendy White House Tavern (the French dip is to die for). Later that afternoon, I head to the spa at the St. Regis Hotel where the wellness elixirs and bubbly flow freely in the oxygen lounge. We mix things up the next day by zipping through the snow on electric snowmobile-scooter hybrids called MoonBikes.
It sounds like a charmed life, but there are no coincidences in this elaborate scenario. My new ski buddy happens to be Jon Colbeth, then president of Rolls-Royce North America, and unlike many of the 40 or so mucky-mucks he will entertain this weekend, I’m no billionaire. I’ve tagged along to glimpse a side of the car market that normally goes unseen: the quiet, luxurious gatherings where high-end automakers like Rolls-Royce keep their clients happy, and court their next well-heeled owners.
Not Like Us
“Let me tell you about the very rich,” F. Scott Fitzgerald once famously opined. “They are very different from you and me.” Good old Scott might not have car shopped with the one percent, but it’s safe to say his sentiment still stands when it comes to Rolls-Royce, one of the most expensive car brands on the planet.
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars’ roots go back to 1904 when the well-to-do Charles Rolls teamed up with engineer Henry Royce. Based in Goodwood, England, the manufacturer has since fallen under BMW ownership, but has resisted the lure of chasing volume production. As such, only 5,664 Rolls-Royce vehicles left the carmaker’s factory last year. In contrast, Bentley produced nearly double that amount. Boasting an average sale price of around $500,000, Rolls-Royce’s brand equity lies in exclusivity.
To put it another way, Colbeth points out that while white diamonds typically trade for between $10,000 and $20,000 per carat, red diamonds, of which fewer than 30 exist worldwide, command seven figures for the same size. “It’s not because white diamonds are any less beautiful,” he says plainly. “It’s just because they’re less scarce.”
I’ve had a Heinz 57 variety of experiences, but nothing can compare to what Rolls has provided me.
– Lee Bailey, a super-client who has Owned 12 Rolls-Royce Vehicles
Rolls-Royce’s scarcity has famously appealed to cultural heavyweights ranging from John Lennon to Jay-Z. That sort of high-profile ownership makes for priceless free advertising; on the other hand, the perception of unattainability can also get in the way of access to new clients. That’s where my weekend in Aspen comes in.
Rather than burning cash on ad buys or car shows, Rolls-Royce has been focused on small events where like-minded individuals come together for the sorts of things that appeal to them: Michelin-starred snacks, rarefied networking and the potential discovery of something they never knew they needed. Sometimes, they are co-hosted by similarly elevated brands, like Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin or the invitation-only American Express Centurion; other times, connected clients offer their homes and inner circle of social networks.
The carmaker also sometimes hosts receptions at exquisite rental properties, like the mountainside residence where I paid a visit during my weekend in Aspen.
How to Sell a $500,000 Car
We travel into the mountain community of Castle Creek in a Ghost, Rolls-Royce’s twin-turbo V12 sedan. As we pull up to the home, whose modern aesthetic evokes a friendlier version of a Bond-villain lair, we’re met with a phalanx of vehicles including a top-dog Phantom and the Cullinan, Rolls-Royce’s $440,000 take on the SUV. It’s quite the show of force, and we haven’t even got out of the car.
Although the property’s 5,500-square-foot living space isn’t quite old-money expansive, its $38.5 million asking price reflects its prime location. “We go where our clients are,” Colbeth says, “so Aspen was highlighted as one of the hotspots we wanted to activate.” Indeed.
Once inside, the usual elements of a high-end soirée are plentiful: chilled champagne, canapés, seamless service from nattily attired hosts. The party’s peculiarities become clear in the great room, where two honest-to-goodness Rolls-Royce artisans — a designer and a veneer expert — have been flown from England to demonstrate the finer points of bespoke craftsmanship through samples of marquetry, the intricate jigsaw puzzle of wood that forms decorative patterns. Another room has a sofa facing a flatscreen where people can configure their perfect car, where everything from custom paint colors to interior upholstery combinations can be modified.
Snow Drifts and Sacred Porsches at Aspen’s Inaugural F.A.T. Ice Race
Our correspondent spent the weekend among automotive and mechanical royalty at the first U.S. edition of Ferdi Porsche’s ice-racing spectacleMany of the guests are friends of repeat Rolls-Royce buyers. “The intention is to bring new people in,” says Gerry Spahn, the brand’s head of North American communications. “[Owners] love showing off Rolls-Royce,” Colbeth adds. “They actually do more than we do. They’re telling friends, ‘Hey, get in this car, try this Ghost, go for a ride in a Cullinan.’”
When it comes to selling cars that cost as much as houses, a little firsthand experience goes a long way toward sealing the deal. This is why Rolls has trucked in a handful of demo models for test drives on surrounding roads (scheduled before happy hour, naturally). Rolls-Royce believes that any deep-pocketed driver can be converted into a true believer with a little hospitality and seat time. Colbeth says this kind of customer outreach has paid off handsomely. “These new approaches to developing the business really drove us last year. And our order intake increased over 50% in the Americas region in 2024.”
“It’s important for us to get them into our cars at these kinds of events,” Colbeth adds, nodding to the power of exposure. “I recently met a client in Miami who hadn’t been in a Rolls-Royce, so I sent him one for a couple of days. His first message back to me was ‘I hate you,’ and that now he couldn’t think about buying anything else. He ended up buying a Cullinan.”
That’s the key, Colbeth says. “You can’t undrive a Rolls-Royce.”
Welcome to the Cult of Rolls-Royce
Whether they arrived at the brand through family tradition or fell in from a financial windfall, the cult of luxury automakers is defined by a fiercely loyal inner circle who live and breath owning the latest and greatest. Within each clan are mega-personalities who have become synonymous with their nameplates of choice. Jerry Seinfeld digs his Porsches, the Sultan of Brunei loves his rare Mercedes-Benzes and Cristiano Ronaldo is a Bugatti junkie.
Lee Bailey is not a household name, but her serial Rolls-Royce habit has earned her exceptional access within the brand’s hallowed halls. “We were building the business and had no time to travel, so our indulgence was cars,” she explained on a phone call. While Bailey was building over 100 McDonald’s franchises with her now ex-husband, the two dove into various exotic-car rabbit holes — Mercedes-Benz SLSs, Bentley Arnages — until they reached Rolls-Royce. “Our next move was right after Torsten [Müller-Ötvös] stepped in as CEO [in 2010]. Since then, we’ve had 12 Rolls-Royces,” including a Phantom Drophead Coupé, two Wraiths, two Cullinans and “God knows how many Ghosts.”
It’s not that Bailey hasn’t been the subject of numerous charm offensives from other brands. She cites Aston Martin-sponsored trips to Formula 1 races among her extracurricular indulgences. But she kept coming back to Rolls-Royce. “I’ve had a Heinz 57 variety of experiences,” she says, “but nothing can compare to what Rolls has provided me.”
I recently met a client in Miami who hadn’t been in a Rolls-Royce, so I sent him one for a couple of days. His first message back to me was ‘I hate you,’ and that now he couldn’t think about buying anything else.
– Jon Colbeth, former president of Rolls-Royce North America
Colbeth may be a company man, but he echoes what many civilians already know about the brand. “When you pull up in a Rolls-Royce, it’s about making a statement,” he says, “it’s about presence and all those things that come with it.” But as familiar as these automotive icons may be, sometimes it takes a nudge to persuade loyalists to venture beyond comfort zones, like their affinity to internal combustion engines.
Regarding Rolls-Royce’s battery-powered Spectre, Bailey says it took some persuading by Spahn to convince her of its worth. “I’ve always been a bi-turbo V12 girl,” Bailey says proudly, “but I’ve got to tell you, when they designed the Spectre, it was not designed as an electric car. It was designed as a Rolls-Royce. It’s fast, it’s smooth, it handles…I kind of went kicking and screaming into this, but I love it.”
The Perks of Automotive Loyalty
If there is a next level to the upper-end automotive microverse, it is the world of bespoke personalization. Coachbuilding dates back to the earliest of Rolls-Royce vehicles, and the brand has been making strides back into the space since the reintroduction of the practice in 2017 with the $12.8 million Sweptail. Subsequent examples have reached an estimated $30 million.
On a smaller scale, clients are making their mark by ordering off the menu for singular touches that make their cars their own. Bailey cites the time she purchased a de Grisogono Grappoli watch with orange sapphires and white diamonds, only to feel let down by how it felt in her Dawn convertible. “I had designed the car around the watch,” she says, “but the black steering wheel just totally killed the whole effect.” When she saw super-client Michael Fux’s custom Rolls-Royce unveiled at Pebble Beach with a white steering wheel, she “grabbed a hold of Gerry [Spahn] and said, ‘Okay, he got his, I want mine.’” Before long, her ragtop was topped off with a custom orange-and-white wheel.
Since relaunching its coachbuilding arm, Rolls-Royce’s bespoke business has been growing through an increasing number of ultra-limited-production builds, a practice that rival Bentley has been dabbling with as well. Even volume manufacturers like BMW and Mercedes-Benz are dipping a toe into the customization business, one which promises to see growth in higher-end model lines like Alpina, the recently acquired BMW sub-brand, and Maybach, Mercedes-Benz’s higher-end boutique brand.
As the world of outrageous automotive expression continues to thrive, the goal is becoming less about what technology or craftsmanship can do, and more about how brands make you feel. As Lee Bailey reflects on her experience being coddled as a top-tier client, “My life is so enriched by having these experiences. It just makes you feel so appreciated and admired.”
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