Rolls

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Driving around town with his $250,000 worth of luxury and gadgetry, Lee Pearlman has no regrets about living high.

The six-month owner of a pinkish 1999 Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph is one of a select few Angelenos who have bought the newest dream machine from the nearly century-old English automaker see-saw economy or no.

“It’s not a guilty pleasure. I work hard and like to play hard,” said Pearlman, founder of New Age Electronics Inc., a Rancho Dominguez company that distributes consumer electronics. “When it comes to the pure enjoyment and satisfaction of my hobby, I have a long-term business outlook. I don’t live my life with the up-and-down tics of the stock market,”

Such a nonchalant attitude is not uncommon among owners of the $216,000 Silver Seraph, or its sister, the $205,000 Bentley Arnage.

“Our sales don’t have anything to do with the stock market it’s the anti-world,” said Patrick Persichini, sales manager at Rolls-Royce of Beverly Hills. “These people are in the highest earning bracket of the world. They’re concerned about the stock market, but they look at the macro picture. In 1987, following the big crash, we had a great year.”

The Rolls dealership, which is the nation’s largest in volume and sales, has sold 10 Silver Seraphs and 12 Bentley Arnages. And since the beginning of the year, it has sold a total of 47 cars, compared with only 37 for all of last year.

“Sales are strong now, and traditionally our strong months are November, December and January, so we’re expecting record growth.” said Judith Rugh, vice president of finance and general manager of the Beverly Hills location, who said 60 percent of her customer base is repeat business.

Rolls-Royce is trying to increase production over the next five years, possibly churning out 2,000 to 9,000 units per year. The company has deliberately kept low inventories, selling 1,000 to 2,000 cars per year worldwide. That tiny output compares with the 16,814 Toyota Camrys sold in Los Angeles County alone from mid 1996 through May 1997.

“More and more baby boomers have achieved significant wealth,” said Ken Ley, general manager of Rusnak/Pasadena Rolls-Royce.

The L.A. market represents a large wedge of the Rolls-Royce pie, according to the Dohring Co., an auto research group in Glendale. In 1997, the Los Angeles consumer accounted for 454 Rolls-Royces out of the 1,779 sold. Southern California has only five Rolls dealerships: Beverly Hills, Pasadena, Newport Beach, San Diego and Palm Springs.

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