Rolls-Royce Fire Sale

The price of prestige plunged last week. Faced with sluggish sales, the U.S. distributor for Britain's Rolls-Royce Motors, makers of the world's most elegant line of automobiles, slashed prices on all Rolls models. The cost of a sleek Silver Spirit, the cheapest Rolls, dropped from $111,000 to $93,000, while the price for a top-of-the-line Corniche convertible fell from $162,500 to $148,500.

Since 1978 the cost of the least expensive Rolls had surged from $55,900 to $111,000. Rolls-Royce sales in the U.S. slumped last year to 908, down from 1,158 in 1981. Says Charles Bamberger, vice president of Manhattan's Carriage House Motor Cars, a Rolls-Royce dealership: "Even to satisfy their egos, many people were not quite willing to go into six figures for a car."

Rolls dealers welcomed the price cuts, but they do not expect a dramatic rise in sales. They point out that for most Rolls buyers, who in the past have included George Bernard Shaw, Ernest Hemingway, Greta Garbo and Reggie Jackson, price remains a secondary consideration.

U.S. Gold Over the Counter

Following President Reagan's philosophy that private enterprise can do most things better than the Government, the Treasury Department announced last week that it has enlisted a private company to boost the lackluster business in U.S. gold medallions. The coins, previously sold only by the Postal Service, will now be distributed by J. Aron & Co., a Manhattan-based precious-metals dealer, and sold by some 3,000 banks, brokerage-house branches and coin shops.

The Treasury began minting 1-oz. and 1/2-oz. gold medallions in 1980 to compete with popular foreign coins, particularly the South African Krugerrand and the Canadian Maple Leaf. Since then American goldbugs have bought only 603,000 oz. of U.S. medallions, compared with at least 6 million oz. of Krugerrand and Maple Leaf coins.

The problem, apparently, has been the ponderous Postal Service. Buyers had to wait as long as two months to receive their gold in the mail. In contrast, dealers sell the Krugerrand and Maple Leaf over the counter for cash or certified checks.

Dealers will sell the U.S. coins at prices based on the going rate for gold bullion, plus sales tax and a commission expected to range from 4% to 8%. Late last week shoppers in New York City could pick up a shiny new 1-oz. medallion bearing the likeness of Louis Armstrong for $495.79.

The New Valley Boys

The fast-growing electronics firms of California's Silicon Valley, which are renowned for their blue-jeaned whiz kids, are now seeking pinstripe talent skilled in the Big Business techniques of mass marketing. In the past six months, Valley firms have lured several officers away from major American corporations. Apple, a pioneer in personal computers, has hired a new chief executive: John Sculley, 44, who was president of Pepsi-Cola. Osborne, the leading maker of portable computers, recruited as its chief executive Robert Jaunich, 43, former president of Consolidated Foods. Atari, a strong force in home computers as well as video games, has snared a string of executives from such companies as Polaroid and Bristol-Myers.

The Valley is turning from Levi's to pinstripes to prepare for a bruising marketing battle. It is no longer good enough to have just a flashy computer. The product must now be sold in a fiercely competitive market. Since entering the personal-computer field in August 1981, IBM has gained a 22.5% market share, second only to Apple's 29.4%. Apple's new chief claims he welcomes the challenge. The goal, says Sculley, is for "the Pepsi generation to become the Apple generation." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.