Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the manufacturer of Rolls-Royce cars since 1999, currently a BMW subsidiary. Its
predecessors include: Rolls-Royce Limited and Rolls-Royce Motors (now Bentley Motors Limited).

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

Type

Subsidiary

Industry

Automotive

Founded

March 1998 (Predecessor: Rolls-Royce Limited 1906)

Founder(s)

Henry Royce
Charles Stewart Rolls

Headquarters

Goodwood, United Kingdom

Key people

Harald Krueger, Chairman

Torsten Mller-tvs, CEO

Products

Automobiles

Employees

1000 (2011)

Parent

BMW Group

www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com

Website

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is an English manufacturer of luxury cars based at theGoodwood plant in West Sussex,
England. The factory is located across from the historicGoodwood Circuit in Goodwood, West Sussex, England. It is
a wholly owned subsidiary ofBMW and is the current producer of Rolls-Royce branded cars, whose historical
production dates back to 1904 through Rolls-Royce Limited and Rolls-Royce Motors.
Contents
[hide]

1 History

1.1 Predecessors

1.2 BMW ownership of Rolls-Royce marque

1.3 Recent

2 Cars

2.1 Prototypes

3 Sales

4 See also

5 References

6 Further reading

7 External links

[edit]History
[edit]Predecessors
The history of Rolls-Royce began as Rolls-Royce Limited which started manufacturing cars in 1903. The factory at
Goodwood is the fifth Rolls-Royce UK based car production facility since 1904. The previous four were located in
Manchester, London, Derby, and Crewe.

[edit]BMW

ownership of Rolls-Royce marque

In 1998, owners Vickers decided to sell Rolls-Royce Motors. The most likely buyer was BMW, who already supplied
engines and other components for Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars, but BMW's final offer of 340 million was beaten
by Volkswagen's 430m.
A stipulation in the ownership documents of Rolls-Royce dictated that Rolls-Royce plc, the aero-engine maker would
retain certain essential trademarks (the Rolls-Royce name and logo) if the automotive division was sold. Rolls-Royce
plc chose to license not to VW but to BMW, with whom it had recently had joint business ventures. VW had bought

rights to the "Spirit of Ecstasy" bonnet (hood) ornament and the shape of the radiator grille, but it lacked rights to the
Rolls-Royce name necessary to build the cars. Likewise, BMW lacked rights to the grille and mascot. BMW bought
an option on the trademarks, licensing the name and "RR" logo for 40m, a deal that many commentators thought
was a bargain for possibly the most valuable property in the deal. VW claimed that it had only really wanted Bentley
anyway, as Bentley at the time was the higher-volume brand and moved twice as many cars as Rolls-Royce.
The situation was tilted in BMW's favour, as they could withdraw their engine supply with just 12 months notice,
which was insufficient time for VW to re-engineer the Rolls-Royce cars to use VW's own engines. BMW and VW
arrived at a solution. From 1998 to 2002 BMW would continue to supply engines for the cars and would allow use of
the names by VW, but this would cease on 1 January 2003. From that date, only BMW would be able to name cars
"Rolls-Royce", and VW's former Rolls-Royce/Bentley division would build only cars called "Bentley." This resulted
in 2003 BMW opening their new Goodwood plant on the Goodwood Estate close to Chichester,West Sussex.

[edit]Recent
In 2011, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars sold 3,538 cars, up 31 percent on the year before, dominated by Phantom and Ghost
models sold, beating the previous record from 1978. The strong sales growth occurred in the Asia Pacific region by
up 47 percent, followed by Britain with up 30 percent and Middle East sales up 23 percent.[1]

[edit]Cars

Rolls-Royce Phantom Extended Wheelbase in use at the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong

1931 Rolls-Royce Phantom II

From 2003 Phantom (saloon)Launched in January 2003 at Detroit's North American International Auto
Show, this is the first model from Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited, a BMW Group subsidiary having no
corporate connection with the previous Rolls-Royce Motors company apart from the trademarks mentioned
above. The car has a 6.75 L V12 engine sourced from BMW, but most components are unique to the car. Parts
are sourced from Continental Europe and the UK. Assembly, leather work, wood work, and finishing is carried
out in a new factory in Goodwood near Chichester, Sussex. The cars are available in normal and extended
wheelbase.

From 2007 Phantom Drophead Coup (convertible)

From 2008 Phantom Coup (coupe)

From 2010 Ghost (saloon)Rolls Royce announced in September 2006 that it would develop a new four-door
model named Ghost. The Ghost will be smaller than the previous Rolls Royce automobile launched, the
Phantom. Only 20% of the components would be sourced from BMW F01 7 Series, and it will be positioned
below the Phantom.[2]

For earlier models, see the List of Rolls-Royce motor cars and the timeline below.

[edit]Prototypes

Rolls-Royce Mulliner Silver Dawn Drophead Coup[3] (1953)

Rolls-Royce 100EX (2006)

Rolls-Royce 101EX (2006)

Rolls-Royce Mansory Phantom Conquistador[4] (2008)

Rolls-Royce Hyperion[5] (2008)

Rolls-Royce Mini [6] (June 2009)

Rolls-Royce 200EX (2009; known as RR04 also)

Rolls-Royce 102EX (2011)

[edit]Sales
The all time high record of sales was achieved in 2011, at 3,538 cars. [1]

Calendar Year

Total Sales

1978

3,357

Calendar Year

Total Sales

2005 [7]

796

2006 [7]

805

2007 [8]

1,010

2008 [9]

1,212

2009 [9]

1,002

2010 [9]

2,711

2011 [1]

3,538