IndiaRolls-Royce cars, once the favourite of India's flamboyant maharajahs, have returned to the country after over half a century wooing the super-rich "businessman kings".
The prestigious luxury car company, now owned by German automobile giant BMW, got lucky when it sold its first Silver Phantom to an Indian businessman last month for around €710,618.
The average annual income in India is €386.
"I think the Rolls-Royce is the best car in the world. The Phantom has tremendous road presence, comfort, prestige and now even speed and power, which Rolls was not known for earlier," Yohan Poonawalla, an industrialist and stud-farm owner from the western Indian city of Pune, said.
Mr Poonawalla (33) said his family got their first Rolls-Royce, a Silver Shadow, before he was born.
Six of his chauffeurs are being trained to maintain and drive their boss's new acquisition, a 6.75 litre, 12-cylinder engine capable of hitting 240 km/h.
Mr Poonawalla's chauffeurs, however, are not entirely unfamiliar with the brand as he owns a 1937 Phantom 3, a 1934 seven-seat limousine and a 1992 Silver Spur 2, all in mint conditions and visible only on special occasions.
"India had been the ultimate destination of many of the earlier Rolls-Royce cars, including the Silver Ghost and the Phantom," Colin Kelly, regional director (Asia Pacific) of Rolls-Royce, said. Twenty per cent of all Rolls-Royce cars were exported to India up until the 1940s.
Scores of maharajas bought Rolls-Royce's, some taking them on tiger hunts. The eccentric maharajah of Alwar in western Rajasthan turned his fleet of Rolls-Royce cars into garbage vans, much to the chagrin of the company representatives in three-piece suits summoned to repair them.