Stephen Hung, left, is all smiles after ordering 30 Rolls-Royce Phantoms at a cost of $20 million.
Considering their cost, only a select handful of motorists might ever dream of purchasing a Rolls-Royce, but Hong Kong tycoon Stephen Kung is purchasing 30 of them – the largest order the venerable British brand has ever received.
The deal valued at $20 million, Hung plans to use the 30 Phantom sedans to chauffeur guests at the new luxury resort he is building in China’s gambling mecca, Macau.
“Macau is rapidly evolving into the luxury capital of the world and we are honored to have the opportunity to add to Macau’s many distinctions, the world’s largest fleet of Rolls-Royce Phantoms, including the two most luxurious vehicles Rolls-Royce has ever built,” Hung, the chairman of Louis XIII Holdings Ltd., said in a statement.
A “base” Phantom goes for $404,940 in the U.S., and 450,000 pounds sterling, or $734,000 in Great Britain. But Rolls says the models purchased by Louis XIII will be “extensively customized.” It is not unusual for that process to push the price tag to well over $1 million.
Hung’s company has placed a $2 million deposit and will come up with another $3 million by year-end, with the final $15 million payment due when the cars are delivered in early 2016.
Macau is already the world’s largest gambling mecca, with annual revenues of $45 billion last year running an estimated seven times higher than the take in Las Vegas. That has lured in significant investments from both China and abroad. Among American firms that have set up casinos there are Wynn Resorts and Las Vegas Sands Corp.
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Hung, who wears a long wave of hair dyed in ribbons of color, is setting up a casino specializing in the ultra-wealthy. It intends to appeal to them not only with high-stakes gambling tables – minimum bet US $650 – but with all the expected trappings of the ultra-rich, including chauffeured Rolls-Royce limousines.
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Named for the king who built the legendary Palace of Versailles, the anchor of the Louis XIII project will be a 22-story, bright red building topped with an enormous fake diamond. Hung even brought a descendent of the French king onboard to help with the resort’s design.
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“We at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars are delighted and honored that Mr. Hung has commissioned Rolls-Royce to provide the largest single order of Phantoms in history,” said the maker’s CEO Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes. “The Louis XIII fleet of Phantoms promises to be one of most impressive sights ever seen in Macau when they arrive at the Louis XIII hotel in 2016.”