Rolls-Royce has confirmed it has initiated repair campaigns for more than 100 vehicles in Australia after accusing local media of misreporting last week’s recall for its Ghost and Phantom models.
The high-brow British brand wrote to media, including CarAdvice, claiming it wasn’t correct that every Rolls-Royce vehicle sold since 2003 – and worth about $100 million – were involved in a recall campaign as a result of potential brake and fire risk issues.
“Speculation that every Rolls-Royce Motor Car sold in Australia in the last 10 years is being recalled in incorrect,” the company said in a statement. “As a respected and responsible motoring manufacturer, we are currently conducting a global campaign for Ghost of which only seven cars are affected in Australia.
“The current precautionary campaign for Phantom, as noted on the ACCC website following voluntary disclosure by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, has been ongoing since October 2010.”
Rolls-Royce has now confirmed, however, that 25 Ghost models were affected in total, with 81 Phantoms sold in the past 10 years also involved in what the company calls “precautionary repair programs”.
The company says most of the repair programs have been carried out, having started in 2010 despite the government releasing its Product Safety Recalls notices for both the Ghost and Phantom only last week.
The $645,000 Rolls-Royce Ghost was specifically recalled in response to the potential for circuit boards controlling the turbo cooling pump to overheat and catch fire.
Rolls says this was an extended campaign from 2009 and only seven of the 25 Ghost models are now awaiting a fix.
The Rolls-Royce Phantom, which retails from $1.35 million, was recalled to address the possibility of a power braking system failure.
Rolls-Royce admits the dates of the recall campaigns, starting in 2009, and the release of the government public recall notices just last week has led to understandable confusion.
The company says there have been no reports of any incidents in Australia relating to the recall campaigns.