This is how Australia Rolls

Australians love to personalise their cars, whether it's a shiny set of sports wheels, schmick seat covers or some fancy stickerwork. It's got to look a bit different to Dave's one down the road.

Rolls-Royce owners are no different – apart from not batting an eyelid at spending more on a car than most of us spend on a house, that is.

Those buying the quintessential English brand are willing to spend even more than customers in other affluent markets around the world.

Australia is one of the leading markets for Rolls-Royce's “Bespoke” program, which offers an astonishing list of made-to-order accessories. All in the name of making your Roller look and feel just that bit different to everyone else's.

The 107-year-old company, based in the southern English country village of Goodwood, will happily build you a portable picnic setting from the same timber veneer as that of your dashboard, or match the colour of the piping in the electrified, heated, cooled and sumptuously leather-clad seats to your favourite tie.

And if you need to ask how much these painstaking and time-consuming constructions cost, you definitely can't afford it.

Rolls-Royce Asia Pacific general manager Dan Balmer says owners of its “entry level” model, the $645,000 Ghost saloon, are the Bespoke program's best customers – not just in Australia, but in the entire Asia-Pacific region, including newly affluent China.

“We see more bespoke features being sold on Ghost in this country than we see across the rest of Asia-Pacific as a whole. So there's basically more bespoke content per car in Australia than we see in other countries,” Balmer says.

While Asian customers are most likely to spend their money on exterior enhancements designed to demonstrate the owner's prosperity to passers-by, Australian customers are more likely to display their affluence inside.

“We have sold quite a few two-tone cars [in Australia], but in the main, exteriors tend to be monotone – and what they do spend time on is the interior, the private side of life,” he says.

“It shows a unique part of the Australian character: it's not about shouting externally, it's about keeping it all to yourself.”

A major drawcard of the brand is not just the thrill of owning a car still viewed by most as the pinnacle of motoring, but the prestige that comes with its extreme scarcity.

Rolls-Royce sold just 22 cars in Australia last year and 3300 globally, and in the past decade just 139 examples have found homes Down Under.

This is as it should be, says Balmer. “It's about the exclusive angle. That's the main draw for our customers, they like the fact that they can 'Bespoke' a car and make it their own, and not see another copy of it down the street.

“I think some of our competitors have gone down that path, chasing volume and becoming a bit more 'mass luxury' than we ever would get near.”

He admits there is a fine line between maintaining the perception of scarcity and therefore exclusivity – “when's the last time you saw a Ghost on the street?” – and the company's desire to incrementally grow sales volumes.

To the end of July, Rolls-Royce had sold just six cars in Australia this year, although plans are being finalised to double the dealer network by adding showrooms in Perth and south-east Queensland, in addition to existing outlets in Sydney and Melbourne.

“We still see white space in our sector to expand sales, within reason, a little further,” he says.

But aspirant buyers shouldn't expect price cuts or discounts.

“We will not go lower than these current cars in terms of price. We'll be the pinnacle offering in terms of the super-luxury market – we'll be at the very top of the pile. We'll not go lower to expand our volume.”

But there is change in the air – the range is expanding to include a sportier third model to sit beside the Ghost saloon and the stately Phantom limousine.

The Wraith – continuing a naming convention that harks back to models past and a tradition of invoking spiritual apparitions - is possibly the most radical design the company has ever approved for production, and as close as it has come to offering a genuine sports car.

This, too, is expected to prove a strong lure for wealthy Australian customers who are renowned for their love of driver-focused cars.

“When we launched Ghost [in 2010], that was our most driver-centric car at the time, it was more of an 'any occasion' car. It was a 'business suit versus the tuxedo' analogy we use for Phantom, which is a special-occasion car,” Balmer says.

“With Wraith we're taking that story further, we're putting a rubber band around all the things we know are Rolls-Royce and pulling the rubber band as far as we can in the dynamic direction.

“That means driver-centric behaviour, that means a body style that's a coupe, it means a more dynamic and aggressive design language than before, and that also has to be matched in terms of performance.”

And it is, with a 6.6-litre V12 engine making 465 kilowatts and 800Nm that is capable of flinging the 2.2-tonne car to 100km/h in 4.6 seconds. It's assisted by an eight-speed auto that cross references with satellite navigation, to begin shifting down gears as you approach an intersection.

Balmer believes the Wraith – which will be priced identically to the Ghost at $645,000, before on-road costs are added – will prove enticing for Ferrari, Maserati and Aston Martin owners who have tired of their low-slung steeds.

“I think Wraith will take us in the direction of traditional sports car buyers who only considered a sports car before,” he says.

“We've certainly seen that in the first few weeks on the market here in Australia. We've had people who are devout followers of other brands, who have never considered a Rolls-Royce before, having seen this car in the paper and are now coming to see it, they want to drive it and experience it.”

The Wraith is on sale now and deliveries will begin in September.