ROLLS-ROYCE has moved its retail operations in Queensland from the Gold Coast to Brisbane, forging a new partnership with LMM Holdings – part of the Sime Darby Group – after five years with Peter Warren Automotive Group.

The LMM stable also includes franchises for Ferrari, BMW, Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Volvo, and up until recently was led by Martin Roller and business partner Marvin Burke in collaboration with Sime, which had a controlling 70 per cent shareholding in the company.

Sime now has full ownership of LMM Holdings and takes responsibility for Rolls-Royce after an agreement was reached with the British luxury car manufacturer and Peter Warren Automotive, which was operating the Gold Coast franchise at Southport through its Sunshine Automotive subsidiary.

An interim showroom in Brisbane is due to be opened in the second quarter of this year, managed by newly appointed dealer principal Rob Thomson, while servicing has already transferred to the Queensland capital on the same site as Brisbane BMW in Fortitude Valley, under the watch of service manager Matt Cotterill.

Explaining the move to GoAutoNews Premium last week, Rolls-Royce Asia-Pacific regional director Paul Harris said it was “100 per cent driven by the business ownership change”.

Mr Harris was unable to discuss the details of the change in ownership but described the process as “cordial and very much agreed, and everything was properly planned … it worked out well for everyone”.

He also said moving to Brisbane should benefit customers and open up new opportunities for the brand.

“The Gold Coast is still very important to us, a very important market, very important client base but we are forced (to move) by the business change going on with the change of ownership, and that’s moving up into Brisbane,” he said.

“Now what Brisbane does bring us is a wider opportunity. It’s a bit closer to the main airports, and I’ve noticed myself over the last four or five years a significant change in central Brisbane and the way that it has changed its game and become a real sort of luxury centre for growth. We feel that the business change as proposed to us gave us an opportunity to move that business further forward.

“It doesn’t mean that the Gold Coast is in any way less important to us, it still very much is, it’s very commutable. And from the point of view of the (change in) business operations, it’s a mutual arrangement as well, so it’s not through any other problems or anything like that with that business unit.

“So from a customer perspective, which is our most important focus, we’re very focused on looking after our customers and making sure they are well catered for, and our new partners are very committed to achieve that as well.”

Rolls-Royce undertook extensive market research before deciding to favour the Gold Coast over Brisbane, citing the location’s popularity with businesspeople from Asia as a major factor, along with the number of holiday homes owned by wealthy city dwellers and people from overseas.

Asked whether its experience on the Gold Coast was not borne out by the research, Mr Harris said: “I think we did very well. I think we did almost exactly what we wanted to do and I don’t think that that has particularly changed.

“I mean, the commitment with the change in location is that we will continue to, of course, be active in the Gold Coast in terms of meeting those customers’ needs and doing events and things like that in the area still, because it’s very important that we are there still. It definitely is a rich luxury hub for multi-home owners.

“But I think that many of those people were flying into Brisbane as well. So for us it’s just more of a convenient, more central location and it does allow us to look more north as well, to Noosa and what’s going on in that area as well, just covering a wider inlet.”

Mr Harris added that Rolls-Royce had forged strong ties globally over the years with Sime Darby, which played a part in its decision to partner with the Malaysian-based multinational in Queensland.   

“We know them, we know of them, we have a fantastic working relationship with Sime Darby in many other areas from a Rolls-Royce perspective,” he said.

“They understand us, and it was just a fit that works, so we were very happy with the arrangements.”

By Terry Martin