Chinese Internet celebrities are crazy about Rolls-Royce

01, Internet celebrity "standard"

The end of the Internet celebrity is to bring goods, and the end of the goods is Cullinan.

As the first SUV under the top British luxury car brand Rolls-Royce, the Cullinan is the dream car of too many people. But the high price of tens of millions of dollars at every turn also makes this car can only exist in most people's dreams.

Even Rolls-Royce's lowest-priced model, Gust, has a starting price of 5.03 million yuan in the domestic standard version. Coupled with the almost unlimited high-end customization business, each Rolls-Royce can be tailored to the needs of the owner, and the final price is not capped. The price of a foreign limited edition or high-end model can even break through 100 million.

Don't look at the high price, Rolls-Royce has not far behind sales in the top luxury car market.

From 2020 to 2023, Rolls-Royce's global sales grew from 3,756 to 6,032 units. It broke the sales record of the brand's 119-year-old establishment.

Although Rolls-Royce did not release specific sales figures for the Chinese market, officials said that Greater China will still be its second largest market in the world in 2023.

Behind this report card, Chinese Internet celebrities are "indispensable": Crazy Brother Yang, Simba, Er Donkey, Wang Hongquanxing, and Plankton, all Internet celebrities with millions of fans, are all Rolls-Royce owners, and some people have bought more than one.

For example, Simba once bought 6 Rolls-Royce Phantoms with a price of 10 million, and almost every executive of his company also owns one, and the "apprentices" have also pocketed various models of Rolls-Royce, which makes netizens envious.

According to the data of the Guangdong E-commerce Summit Forum, in 2023, the net income of Crazy Brother Yang, Simba, and Li Jiaqi will exceed 3.2 billion yuan, 3 billion yuan, and 2.2 billion yuan respectively. Even if it is an Internet celebrity with a waist, the net income can reach millions a year.

▲ (Rolls-Royce Cullinan)

"In the past, the rich rewarded the poor, but now the poor reward the rich" "Watching those Internet celebrities who drive Rolls-Royces and Ferraris every day, and selling 9 yuan 9 toilet paper in the live broadcast room in the middle of the night, I feel that it is normal for me to make no money. Netizens joked.

There was also a gust of wind in the Internet celebrity circle, and it seems that whoever does not have a Rolls-Royce cannot be regarded as a real top-notch.

As a result, netizens found some interesting phenomena, whether they are real Internet celebrities or not, they all regard "Xi Ti Rolls-Royce" as the standard configuration of daily life and post it on social platforms, creating the illusion of "Rolls-Royce per capita" on the Internet.

It is undeniable that in the past two years, Chinese Internet celebrities have indeed contributed to Rolls-Royce's sales, but there are also people who fish in troubled waters.

For example, a female Internet celebrity who recently "overturned" posted a post on social media about her favorite Rolls-Royce Phantom extended version, but it was picked up by almighty netizens, and the owner of the car was someone else.

This routine is exactly the same as the routine of the once smash hit micro-business self-packaging through "fake pick-up". A salesperson of a luxury brand once complained in the circle of friends that a customer engaged in micro-business came to pick up the car, and as a result, he brought a lot of people to take turns to take pictures, "They all claimed to have bought it themselves, and I was embarrassed to death when I listened to it next to me." ”

Although the Internet celebrity who took pictures of the car angered some salesmen, it also made some dealers see business opportunities, and created an "innovative" profit model of "200 yuan for a photo and 1,000 yuan for a full set of car pick-up ceremony", and wrote the advertisement in a conspicuous place in the store.

Later, there were also a lot of jokes in the car circle that have been talked about by netizens to this day. The most famous is the post of "dozens of micro-businessmen angrily mentioned a Porsche Cayenne, and the drinks in the 4S store were drunk all month", which became a "source of happiness" for netizens after tea and dinner.

Sentences such as "Congratulations XX to the car" that micro-businesses love to use have also developed into a smash hit "Xi Ti Ti" - "26-year-old Xi Ti Rolls Royce, full of rituals." I don't rely on anyone, I just rely on my own P-chart", "The secret to having a Rolls-Royce in your early 20s is to have your own P-chart", etc.

In the past year, with the advancement of technology, some netizens have begun to ponder AI face swapping, not only entertaining themselves, but sometimes worrying about Internet celebrities. Some time ago, Wen Huijun, the "Wen Shen" who exploded on the Internet overnight, was "Xi Ti Cullinan" the next day. Some netizens ridiculed: "Your Rolls-Royce, we will P for you." ”

In addition to Internet celebrities, Cullinan is also a favorite in the high-end rental market.

On a car rental app, "City Boundary" found that the company has 6 Cullinan vehicles available for rent in Beijing, with a base starting price of 13,000 yuan per day. This number is one of the largest in the business, and all of them are younger.

A clerk at another Beijing-based luxury car rental company told City Boundary that they also have about five Cullinans on stock, which are more popular than Gust. "Gust's car is basically used for business occasions and weddings, Cullinan can also use it for himself, and some customers are thinking about buying a car to experience it for themselves, or are considering buying it. ”

02. Why do Internet celebrities prefer Rolls-Royce?

Whether it is a real car owner or a fake car owner, such a toss on the Internet shows the love of Chinese Internet celebrities for this century-old super luxury brand.

But why not Bentley, not Ferrari, not Lamborghini, most Internet celebrities choose Rolls-Royce?

You must know that Bentley, the ultra-luxury brand of the Volkswagen Group, will deliver 13,560 vehicles worldwide in 2023, the third highest in history, but a year-on-year decline of 11%, and the Chinese market is one of the markets with the most obvious sales decline.

Why is the BMW Group's "Da Lao" favored?

From the perspective of domestic selling prices, the starting sales threshold of 5.03 million yuan for Rolls-Royce is nearly double that of Bentley's 2.48 million yuan, Ferrari's 2.762 million yuan, and Lamborghini's 2.54 million yuan.

And expensive is exactly what Internet celebrities need, use money to support the field, create a successful personality, and demonstrate social status and economic strength.

Internet celebrity Wu Di once revealed that his daughter attends an aristocratic school with a monthly tuition fee of 50,000 yuan, once he participated in the school sports meeting and found that there were a total of 19 students in the class, and 18 parents drove Rolls-Royce. And he drove an Alpha that day and parked next to "Da Lao", which was extremely embarrassing.

Brother Xiao Yang also bluntly said that he bought a Rolls-Royce mainly for business reception, and sometimes a car can change the other party's perception of himself. "Some brands and chairmen have come to the airport, and they have to use this car to receive them."

Unlike Ferrari, Lamborghini and other brands with supercar attributes, the occasions attended are completely different, and Rolls-Royce has always represented the image of entrepreneurs and business tycoons.

Of course, there is another reason why Internet celebrities prefer Rolls-Royce: this brand can be bought with money, but Ferrari is not necessarily.

A Ferrari dealer told City Boundary that Ferrari has a number of unspoken rules, and while entry-level models can be purchased at will, some special editions or rare models will have purchase conditions.

According to overseas car company observers, some luxury cars are waiting for the owner to choose, but Ferrari has to choose the owner by itself. If you don't have a certain social status and status, no matter how much money you have, you may not be a target customer for Ferrari.

As a result, the market often sees a rare number of Ferrari used cars, which are more expensive than new cars, and the same is true for other supercar brands.

In terms of quality, volume and business model, Rolls-Royce's scarcity comes more from high price and customization. This is also where it can attract Chinese influencers and set a new record for global sales.

Everything at Rolls-Royce is built to the highest specifications, and almost everything else has reached the "ceiling" level, except for those things that are not good at doing supercars.

With a 12-cylinder engine, apart from a top supercar like Bugatti, no brand has more cylinders than it. Rolls-Royce's paintwork and the selection of materials for the classic "Celebratory Goddess", as well as the interior leather, wood trim, carbon fibre and so on, are all exquisite.

Isolation is a major criterion for luxury cars, and Rolls-Royce has dampened or sound-dampened materials for almost every part from the tires and seat frames to the air conditioning ducts, to the center console, doors and trunk. The feeling of isolation is the result of the famous slogan "When driving at 60 mph in a Rolls-Royce, the loudest noise in the car comes from the clock in the center console".

Rolls-Royce is not only equipped with top-level "materials", but also claims to have top-level "work".

For example, the iconic goddess of celebration at the front of the car, hand-molded, manual + machine polishing, the entire processing time is calculated in "days".

The waistline on the side of the car is not painted by machine, but by a professional craftsman, holding a special brush of expensive paint and squirrel hair, painted by hand, without the help of any mechanical tools. It usually takes 3 hours to draw a car.

The roof of the starry sky in the car needs to make 1,340 small holes and pass optical fibers through each hole. The most complex embroidery project Rolls-Royce has ever completed is a special Mirage Custom model, with a total of 1 million individual stitches, and there is no room for error in the order of each stitch and the point of needle drop.

▲ (Source/Rolls-Royce Weibo)

In a word, you can simply think of a Rolls-Royce as a large collection of luxury goods.

However, no two Rolls-Royces are the same in the world. The above "materials" and "work" can be specially customized according to the preferences of the car owner. It is reported that the 6,032 vehicles sold in 2023 are all customized versions.

Expensive, you can buy it if you have money, and it's worth the money, which has become the main reason why Chinese Internet celebrities prefer Rolls-Royce.

03, Rolls-Royce also needs Internet celebrity endorsements?

If Internet celebrities need to rely on the halo of Rolls-Royce to consolidate their identity and status, then on the other hand, does Rolls-Royce, as the "apex of the automobile industry", also need Internet celebrities to bring traffic to it?

Yes. The affirmative answer is probably beyond many people's expectations.

Not only Chinese Internet celebrities love Rolls-Royce, but foreign Internet celebrities also "bring goods" to the brand.

Maria Tudor, who used to work in public relations at Rolls-Royce's global headquarters, wrote that asking influencers to promote the word is a cost-effective way to do marketing. Rolls-Royce doesn't pay influencers directly, just inviting them to VIP events that "money can't buy" allows Rolls-Royce to reach a large luxury audience.

"There are very few influencers who refuse to connect with a Rolls-Royce, we only have to pay for airfare, accommodation and other activities, and the overall cost of an event is even less than the profit generated by selling a Rolls-Royce. The person wrote.

In the public's perception, the rich, celebrities, entrepreneurs, celebrities and Rolls-Royce have the highest degree of fit, and celebrities are often the first choice for brand promotion. But Maria Tudor says even Rolls-Royce needs to weigh the investment against the return, and whether the star's influence is "overwhelming". In contrast, Internet celebrities are more suitable for the current communication rules and can capture the younger wealthy.

In October 2018, Maria Tudor's team selected 30 influencers to attend the Rolls-Royce Cullinan launch event in Wyoming, USA. Influencers package their cars as part of their daily lives, and this natural and easy way of exposure has attracted more attention to the brand.

On the one hand, Rolls-Royce wants to maintain scarcity in order to enhance the value of its products and brands. On the other hand, Rolls-Royce also hopes that its cars can appear more in public to increase exposure, so that more people with spending power can see and appreciate it, instead of lying in the garages of the rich and "eating ashes".

▲ (Source/Rolls-Royce Weibo)

Ten years ago, Rolls-Royce's high-end customers were mainly from real estate, finance and mining. In the past decade, the rise of the Internet, smart technology, gaming and pharmaceutical industries has given rise to a group of younger entrepreneurs and tycoons, and in terms of wealth ownership, super Internet celebrities can also be regarded as one of them.

With the update and upgrade of the model and customization business, Rolls-Royce's official data also shows that their customer base has indeed become younger.

In 2010, the average global selling price of Rolls-Royce was about 250,000 euros (about 1.93 million yuan), and the average age of customers was 56 years old.

In 2021, the average global selling price of Rolls-Royce is about 500,000 euros (about 3.86 million yuan), and the average age of customers is only 43 years old. The average age of customers in the Chinese market is even lower, around 39 years old.

The latest news is that the average age of the first batch of owners of Rolls-Royce's first pure electric model, the Spectre, to be delivered in China, is about 37 years old, which is the lowest average age in the entire Rolls-Royce product line.

▲ (Source/Rolls-Royce Weibo)

Rolls-Royce was open to asking Internet celebrities to promote this matter, but it also turned over because of this.

The most controversial event of Rolls-Royce in China is undoubtedly the invitation of the Internet celebrity couple of Wanwan and Lin Han in 2021 to shoot a promotional video for them and post it on its official Weibo.

Netizens picked up a lot of "black history" of this Internet celebrity couple, thinking that it does not match the brand tone of Rolls-Royce. And some car owners pointed out that the Internet celebrity was not the owner of Rolls-Royce at that time.

At that time, the couple at the center of the incident directly quarreled with the owner and netizens under the official Weibo.

The incident quickly fermented, and Wang Sicong also rushed to express his dissatisfaction when he heard the news, "I suddenly felt that Rolls-Royce was very low, and I would not buy it again in the future." This remark also sent himself to the hot search.

In the end, Rolls-Royce officially said that it sincerely listened to the feedback and took the video offline.

"Top luxury" and "Internet celebrity", two groups that seem to be completely incompatible, Rolls-Royce is quite smart abroad, why did it "overturn" in the Chinese market?

In fact, in the matter of whether they deserve to own a Rolls-Royce, the "old money" does not have to be noble, and the "new riche" are equal.

It's just that the public disagrees with the values presented by some Chinese Internet celebrities, and the online anchors who use vulgar means to attract attention and make a lot of quick money have deviated from the Internet atmosphere and the focus of people's attention, and also made the term "Internet celebrity" have a derogatory connotation.

Although there is no distinction between high and low professions, Brother Xiao Yang once said in the live broadcast that Internet celebrities are not very glorious professions, and children should not think about being Internet celebrities, but should be astronauts, doctors, scientists, policemen and other people who have value and contributions to society.

A merchant who has been traveling to Europe and the United States for more than 10 years and has been engaged in the luxury industry for more than 10 years told "City Boundary" that Western rich people "show off their wealth" more nakedly, and the choice of Internet celebrities when promoting brands is not as strict as Chinese think.

"Europe and the United States are more luxuristic, and flaunting wealth is also part of their so-called 'culture', which is different from China's concept. They are not strict in their selection of Internet celebrities, as long as there are no particularly serious adverse effects in the near future. If this routine is copied to China, the risk should be relatively large. ”

Author | Huang Shuo

Edit | Tian Yanlin

Operations | Liu Shan