Rolls-Royce Motor Cars breaks 119-year sales record with bespoke commissions powering growth

January 16, 2024

Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail. Image: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has posted the best year in the marque’s 119-year history, with delivery of 6,032 vehicles to clients worldwide, each product a bespoke confection that bucks the larger automotive trend of complete automation.

The BMW-owned, Chichester, England-based automaker said bespoke commissions from markets worldwide reached new record levels by both value and number. The technical innovations required to deliver specific projects also saw Rolls-Royce file a number of new patents during the year.

“2023 was another extraordinary year for Rolls-Royce, with strong sales performances in all regions and across the full product portfolio,” said Chris Brownridge, newly installed CEO of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, in a statement.

“It’s especially encouraging to see the enormous interest in and demand for Spectre, supporting the decision to adopt a bold, all-electric strategy for future model development and production,” he said.

“The record level of bespoke commissions, both by volume and value, also underlines our position within the luxury sector, offering our clients opportunities for self-expression and personalization they cannot find anywhere else.”

On a roll
To mark 20 years of production at Goodwood, Rolls-Royce commissioned an independent study into the marque’s economic impact, which calculated its total contribution to the United Kingdom economy at more than $5 billion since 2003, and now $636 million-plus annually.

Around a fifth of that contribution is made directly in Chichester and West Sussex, through local supply chains and employment of its local workforce. There are now more than 2,500 people working at the home of Rolls-Royce, Goodwood.

The company created 180 new jobs at its Global Centre of Luxury Manufacturing Excellence in 2023. More than 130 people joined the company’s Future Talent program in apprenticeship, internship or graduate placement positions.

The brand also announced plans for significant new investment to modernize and upgrade its manufacturing facilities to improve its bespoke and Coachbuild capabilities and support production of its future all-electric product portfolio.

In 2023, Rolls-Royce further enhanced its experiential luxury capabilities – a significant growth area within the luxury sector.

The marque’s successful global Private Office network, which offers clients a highly personalized commissioning and ownership experience, expanded to Shanghai in 2023.

This unique program, which began with Private Office Dubai in July 2022 – the first Private Office outside the company’s home at Goodwood, Chichester – offers clients direct access to Rolls-Royce’s own designers and engineers.

The impact of these new international Private Offices has already been significant, with a marked increase in the number and complexity of bespoke commissions, Rolls-Royce said. This program will be extended with two new international locations in 2024.

In addition to this, the marque’s Whispers app witnessed significant increases in engagement.

Reserved exclusively for Goodwood-era Rolls-Royce clients, the digital members’ club enables users to benefit from exclusive products and experiences selected from the marque’s wider network within the luxury industry, further establishing the brand as a focal point within the lives of owners, the company said.

Bespoke goes from strength to strength
In 2023, Bespoke commissions reached new record levels by both number and value, with many of the most creatively ambitious and technically challenging originating in the Middle East, the company said.

Bespoke projects completed in 2023 included many firsts for the marque that were also technical innovations. These included the scent-release mechanism concealed in the headrests of Phantom Syntopia, which incorporated technology originally developed for medical applications, while many bespoke paint finishes achieved in 2023 required entirely new materials, techniques and formulations to achieve.

The year’s commissions also created new opportunities in the use of rare and beautiful materials and intricate craft techniques. These included exquisite mother-of-pearl inlays for ‘The Pearl Cullinan’; hand-perforated leather seats for Black Badge Cullinan Blue Shadow; Starlight Headliners incorporating celestial animations for Black Badge Ghost Ékleipsis; and exquisite hand-painted Gallery artworks for Phantom ‘Inspired by Cinque Terre’ in Italy.

Bespoke for Rolls-Royce finds its ultimate expression in Coachbuild, an exacting, highly collaborative process in which Rolls-Royce and the client co-create every detail of the motor car, including its physical form, according to the carmaker.

Global demand
In total, Rolls-Royce sold cars across more than 50 countries worldwide in 2023.

While the first half of the year marked the end of production for Rolls-Royce Wraith and Dawn as planned, the fourth quarter of the year saw the first deliveries of Rolls-Royce Spectre.

The Spectre’s arrival lays a foundation for an electric future in which the marque plans to produce only fully-electric cars by the end of 2030.

“This strong sales performance should be seen in the context of Rolls-Royce’s fundamental, consistently stated position that it is not and never will be a volume-driven business,” Rolls-Royce said.

Rolls-Royce reported sales growth in the majority of the markets in which it operates, with deliveries reaching new record levels in the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Europe regions.

The United States was Rolls-Royce’s single largest market worldwide, while Greater China reaffirmed its status as the marque’s second-largest market.

Record sales were achieved in Europe, where the U.K. is the largest single market.

Supported by the Private Office Dubai, the Middle East maintained its position as the leading source of highly elaborate and technically demanding bespoke commissions.

Record annual sales and year-on-year growth in the Asia-Pacific region were fueled by a strong performance in South Korea, whose vibrant economy is reflected in a rapidly expanding luxury market.

Model turns
As in 2022, Cullinan SUV was the most requested Rolls-Royce model worldwide, followed by Ghost. Phantom continues to reign supreme as the marque’s pinnacle product.

As planned, in 2023 Rolls-Royce ceased production of Wraith (introduced in 2013) and Dawn (2015).

With Wraith’s departure from the portfolio, Rolls-Royce has now made its last-ever V12 coupé, an historic moment commemorated in the imposing Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow Collection.

Released in March and restricted to just 12 examples, the bespoke artistry seen within these historic models was inspired by the world land speed records set in 1938 on Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats by Captain George Eyston in Thunderbolt, a seven-ton, eight-wheeled leviathan powered by two Rolls-Royce ‘R’ V12 aero engines, per the company.

Rolls-Royce unveiled Spectre globally in October 2022, with production starting in late summer 2023 and the first cars delivered to clients in the fall.

The first all-electric series Rolls-Royce in history has attracted considerable interest worldwide, particularly among younger clients, setting a clear direction of travel and establishing a solid foundation for the marque’s electric future.

Eye on talent and future

One of the largest employers in the Chichester area, Rolls-Royce continues to invest in its people through extensive ongoing training programs and its Future Talent program.

Established in 2006, this program supports more than 100 apprenticeships, graduate placements and paid internships every year, ensuring the marque’s talent pool is always able to service ongoing product and Bespoke demand.

In 2023, the company welcomed 27 apprentices, who will spend between two and four years learning specialist craft skills alongside experienced colleagues, while studying for nationally recognized vocational qualifications.

The new cohort also includes degree apprentices, who will complete their undergraduate studies at the nearby University of Chichester.

In 2023, Rolls-Royce submitted plans for a major new investment to modernize and upgrade its manufacturing facilities.

The plans will enhance and extend the marque’s bespoke and Coachbuild capabilities as well as support production of its future all-electric product portfolio.

This significant investment represents the single largest injection of new capital at Rolls-Royce headquarters since the site opened in 2003. This reflects the scale of the transformation in the company’s size, activities, commercial success and global influence in the intervening two decades, the company said.

While over this time the existing plant has seen significant changes internally – most notably going from two production lines to one – the building itself is essentially the same as it was on day one. Then, it employed around 300 people and produced just one motor car a day.

Following extensive consultation with local residents, in late summer 2023 the company submitted a formal planning application for an extension to the Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood on land immediately adjacent to its existing 42-acre site.

The plans take account of the site’s unique location, on the south-west corner of the historic Goodwood Estate – home of the Duke of Richmond and Gordon – and close to the South Downs National Park boundary.

Like the original building, the new extension will be highly sustainable, and largely invisible at ground level beyond the site, per Rolls-Royce.

Around one-third of the new site will be landscaped, reflecting the company’s ongoing commitment to supporting local wildlife and biodiversity.

“As incoming CEO, I’m in the extremely fortunate position of taking over responsibility for a business in robust good health, with strong foundations and a clear strategy for growth and development, formidable technical capabilities and a focused, dedicated team,” Mr. Brownridge said in the statement.

“I’m looking forward to working with the entire Rolls-Royce team to maintain this momentum and take this great company forward with confidence and conviction,” he said.

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Rolls-Royce Motor Cars breaks 119-year sales record with bespoke commissions powering growth

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