Hong Kong - A Chinese tycoon has placed the biggest order yet for Rolls-Royce cars, agreeing to buy 30 Phantoms to chauffeur guests at a luxury resort he's building in the global gambling capital of Macau.
Stephen Hung's $20 million (R219 million) purchase completely overshadows the 14 Phantoms bought by Hong Kong's Peninsula Hotel in 2006.
Hung and Rolls-Royce executives signed the deal on Tuesday at the company's Goodwood factory in England.
The Extended Wheelbase Phantoms will be used for guests at Hung's “ultra-luxury” Louis XIII hotel, which is scheduled to open in early 2016.
Rolls-Royce said two of the cars would be the most expensive Phantoms yet commissioned, complete with “gold-plated accents” inside and out.
The Phantom's base price in Britain is about £450 000 (R8 million) including taxes, a company spokesman said, though prices vary by market and many buyers order custom features that push prices much higher. Customers have been known to spend more than £600 000 (R11 million) on bespoke models.
With casino revenues of $45 billion (R490 billion) in 2013, Macau is the world's most lucrative gambling market, outpacing the Las Vegas Strip seven times over.
Hung, a former investment banker, is known for his flamboyant style and the resort looks to be the flashiest of the wave of expansion projects now under construction in the tiny Chinese territory near Hong Kong.
Named after the French king who started building the famed Palace of Versailles, the resort will have a 1860 square metre villa billed as the world's ‘most extravagant’ hotel suite that will reportedly cost $130 000 (R1.4 million) a night.
Hung has even enlisted a descendent of Louis XIII to help with the hotel's design, based on French Renaissance and Baroque styling.
Sapa-AP