Rolls-Royce celebrates 20 years of production at Goodwood

MANILA: In 1997, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire Rolls-Royce Motor Cars was offered to BMW Group. This was not simply another business transaction. A household name known worldwide, Rolls-Royce has a long history dating back to 1904. In almost every business, companies and products want to be “the Rolls-Royce of...,” making the brand a byword for excellence.

As the brand's new owner, BMW Group was immediately presented with a challenging task to establish a new home for Rolls-Royce that was worthy of the brand's status and history. It was soon clear that only one location would be appropriate for the brand and the customers it was intended to reach.

Chichester and the surrounding area have a long-standing, deep connection with Rolls-Royce. Rolls-Royce Co-founder Sir Henry Royce spent the last 16 years of his illustrious life at his beloved home, Elmstead in West Wittering, where he also worked. He famously sketched the fundamental design for his Merlin aero engine, which eventually powered the iconic Spitfire, in the coast of the West Wittering beach.

That historical connection brought Goodwood, which is located 12 kilometers away, to light. It was already well-known to motorsport fans worldwide as the location of the Festival of Speed and the Goodwood Motor Circuit. The racetrack and hotel, which are both at the center of international society and are consequently well-known to Rolls-Royce's clients, are also part of the wider Goodwood Estate. It was without a doubt the best choice.

The owner of the Estate, the now Duke of Richmond, found a parcel of land that was exactly what Rolls-Royce needed, giving the company a strong ally for its project.

All parties involved understood that this could not be a conventional production facility. Rolls-Royce would not just “build cars,” but would also design and hand-build the most coveted super-luxury goods for a very exclusive group of highly discerning clients from all over the world.

Rolls-Royce hired award-winning architects Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners, whose portfolio included the Eden Project in Cornwall and London's Waterloo International railway station, to design the Home of Rolls-Royce. They produced a spectacular, modern structure that was highly sustainable and blended effortlessly with the surroundings. It also represented the cutting-edge, technically advanced, and meticulously made goods that would be produced there.

20 years later, the Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood remains to be the only place in the world where Rolls-Royce motor cars are still handcrafted. Furthermore, it serves as headquarters for a company that now operates in more than 50 countries. In order to support the highly efficient, fully integrated production processes used by Goodwood, Rolls-Royce established its Technology and Logistics Center in Bognor Regis in 2016.

In addition to a new home, Rolls-Royce also needed a new flagship model to reclaim its status as “the best car in the world.” The Phantom was the outcome. The first Phantom of the Goodwood era was handed by Rolls-Royce to its new owner at one minute past midnight on January 1, 2003. The owner still owns the vehicle to this day.

The Rolls-Royce family has grown from 350 members in 2003 to 2,500 today, including 150 new positions added in 2022 alone. This group of professionals includes designers, engineers, craftspeople, assembly teams, sales, marketing, finance, IT, human resources and other specialists. Together, they represent vast pools of knowledge and expertise. In 2022, a record number of Service Recognition Awards were given to employees who had served the company for 20 years.

As the world's best example of luxury manufacturing excellence today, Rolls-Royce is a true House of Luxury that produces some of the most valuable, rare, and exquisite items ever made. The Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood is a unique, compelling, and inspiring place to be because of this unwavering commitment to Sir Henry Royce's mantra, “Take the best that exists and make it better.”

“Goodwood is both the physical and spiritual Home of Rolls-Royce; the only place in the world where we design and handcraft our unique luxury products, with a unique, personal connection to our long history,” Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Chief Executive Officer Torsten Muller-Otvos stated. “Far more than just an advanced manufacturing facility and corporate headquarters, it gives visitors an immediate introduction to our brand: beautiful, elegant and impressive, yet also creative, vibrant and ever-changing. In its design and construction, it embodies our central values of precision, attention-to-detail and pride for this great British institution. It is its own private universe, yet wholly connected to the wider world. We, the Rolls-Royce family, are privileged to call it home.”

Photos from Rolls-Royce

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