This Press Package offers an summary of Rolls-Royce Motor Vehicles’
distinctive, immensely wealthy heritage, from the primary assembly in Might 1904
between its founders, Sir Henry Royce and The Hon. Charles Stewart
Rolls, to its modern actions on the Dwelling of Rolls-Royce at
Goodwood. Please notice, this isn’t a complete historical past of
Rolls-Royce Motor Vehicles; as an alternative of a strict chronology, it presents
the marque’s heritage as a sequence of discrete eras, every outlined by
a big technological shift, or a particular focus to the
marque’s pursuits and merchandise at the moment.
To make sure brevity and keep away from duplication, this doc
incorporates hyperlinks to extra detailed info on particular people,
occasions, merchandise and different facets of Rolls-Royce heritage,
together with the ‘Makers of the Marque’ and ‘Fashions of the Marque’
sequence ready for the marque’s one hundred and twentieth anniversary in 2024.
THE FOUNDERS
The life and profession of Sir
Henry Royce (27 March 1863 – 22 April 1933) is the traditional
rags-to-riches story. From impoverished origins and with minimal formal
training, he grew to become a large of twentieth Century mechanical engineering.
Along with his meticulous, enquiring thoughts and relentless pursuit of
perfection in each facet of his life, he was chargeable for designs
and know-how that helped form the world we dwell in now.
A highly-driven – some may say obsessive – man, Sir Henry
Royce had a relentless tendency in direction of overwork, to the extent of
critically affecting his well being, leading to a life-threatening
sickness in 1902. After a recurrence in 1911, he constructed a home at Le
Canadel within the south of France, the place he spent the winters for the
remainder of his life; for the rest of the yr, he lived in a number of
properties within the South of England. In 1917, he moved to his beloved
‘Elmstead’ in West Wittering, only a few miles from right now’s Dwelling of
Rolls-Royce at Goodwood.
From the corporate’s basis till his loss of life in 1933, Royce
personally created the preliminary idea for each mechanical merchandise in
each Rolls-Royce motor automobile. An instinctive, intuitive engineer, he
had an uncanny means to evaluate parts purely by eye. He firmly
believed that if one thing appeared proper, it in all probability was, and he was
virtually invariably proved right.
The
Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls (27 August 1877 – 12 July 1910) was
Sir Henry Royce’s reverse in virtually each respect: aristocratic,
well-connected and Cambridge-educated, his household wealth enabled him
to indulge his twin passions for motor racing and aviation, turning into a
main pioneer in each fields. A founding member of the Royal Aero
Membership, he remodeled 170 flights as a balloonist; in 1910, he grew to become the
first pilot in historical past to fly a powered plane throughout the English
Channel and again, continuous.
In January 1902, he opened considered one of Britain’s first automobile
dealerships, C. S. Rolls & Co., in Fulham, West London. A talented
engineer and fanatic who understood motor vehicles intimately, he was
additionally an astute businessman, with in depth connections in politics,
trade, the media and the aristocracy, together with royalty. It was his
vitality, acumen and racing successes that helped set up Rolls-Royce
because the world’s pre-eminent luxurious motor automobile maker.
In 1910, lower than two months after his triumphant double
Channel crossing, Rolls grew to become the primary Briton to lose his life in a
powered plane when his Wright Flyer crashed throughout a contest at
Bournemouth. He was simply 32. It’s simple to neglect that on his loss of life, he
and Henry Royce had labored collectively for a mere six years; it’s
tempting to surprise regretfully simply how rather more he, and so they, may
have achieved.
THE ORIGIN ERA
Royce and Rolls have been launched by Henry
Edmunds (20 March 1853 – 18 November 1927), who knew the previous as
a buddy and enterprise affiliate in Manchester, and the latter as a
fellow member of the Car Membership of Nice Britain & Eire
(later the Royal Car Membership, or RAC).
Edmunds had been enormously impressed by Royce’s 10H.P.
automobile, having pushed it within the 1904 ‘Facet Slip Trials’. He additionally knew
Rolls was desperately searching for a high-quality, British-made automobile to
promote in his thriving London dealership. He duly organized a gathering and
earned his place in historical past when, on 4 Might 1904 on the Midland Lodge
in Manchester, he introduced: “Henry, could I introduce The Honourable
Charles Rolls.”
On returning to London, Rolls instructed his enterprise accomplice, Claude
Goodman Johnson (24 October 1864 – 11 April 1926), that he had
discovered ‘the best motor engineer on the planet’ and would promote all
the vehicles Royce may make. Their new enterprise was formally included
as Rolls-Royce Restricted on 15 March 1906.
In his function as the corporate’s first business managing director,
Johnson had a profound affect that’s nonetheless evident right now. He had
a unprecedented present for advertising and marketing and public relations. In addition to
devising the names for well-known fashions, together with Silver
Ghost and Phantom,
he commissioned what would change into the world’s most recognisable,
enduring and fascinating mascot – the Spirit
of Ecstasy. The well-known figurine was created by sculptor and
illustrator Charles
Robinson Sykes (18 December 1875 – 6 June 1950), and is broadly
believed to be impressed by Eleanor
Thornton (15 April 1880 – 30 December 1915), who was assistant to
their mutual employer, the journal writer and motoring fanatic
The
Hon. John Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu
(10 June 1866 – 30 March 1929).
THE COACHBUILD ERA
Till 1949, Rolls-Royce motor vehicles have been produced solely
as ‘rolling chassis’, outfitted with an engine and drivetrain, on which
a specialist coachbuilder then constructed bodywork to the shopper’s
specification. The rolling chassis did, nevertheless, embrace the bulkhead
(the panel separating the engine compartment from the passenger cabin)
and the radiator, which decided, no less than partly, the completed
motor automobile’s total proportions.
At this time, Rolls-Royce motor vehicles are nonetheless considered ‘the very best
vehicles on the planet’ – an accolade first granted to the 40/50 H.P.,
higher identified by the identify Claude Johnson conferred upon an early
instance, Silver Ghost. First bought in 1907, it was enormously
profitable, with virtually 8,000 examples constructed within the UK and US over an
18-year interval. That so many stay in full working order – and,
certainly, usually carry out the identical feats they achieved greater than a
century in the past – is a long-lasting monument to Sir Henry Royce’s engineering genius.
In 1922, Royce produced his new 20
H.P. mannequin. Recognized merely as ‘The Twenty’, it was the primary
Rolls-Royce designed expressly to be owner-driven fairly than
chauffeured. It was an enormous technical leap ahead: its straight
six-cylinder engine would offer the template for Rolls-Royce engines
proper as much as Silver
Cloud within the Fifties.
Three years later, Rolls-Royce unveiled its first motor automobile to
bear the fabled Phantom
nameplate. Then, as now, it was supposed to be essentially the most magnificent,
fascinating and, above all, easy motor automobile on the planet – the
final expression of automotive excellence. The primary ‘New Phantom’
can be adopted by six additional generations of body-on-chassis
fashions, concluding with Phantom VI.
THE COMPETITIVE ERA
From the outset, Claude Johnson noticed the immense
promotional alternatives afforded by the gruelling, high-profile
reliability trials that have been the benchmark for early twentieth Century
motoring endeavours. In 1907, 40/50 H.P. chassis quantity 60551 – the
authentic Silver Ghost– took a convincing victory within the Scottish
Reliability Trial, overlaying some 2,000 miles with out a single ‘failure
to proceed’. To underline the motor automobile’s reliability, Johnson
instantly organized for it to be pushed forwards and backwards between London
and Edinburgh constantly (besides on Sundays), amassing practically 15,000
miles – the primary 4,000 of which he drove himself – and setting a brand new
world endurance file.
In 1911, Rolls-Royce entered a brand new model of the Silver Ghost
in an RAC-ratified London-Edinburgh
reliability trial, a return run of just about 800 miles between the
two capitals; so as to add to the problem, the motor vehicles have been locked in
high gear from begin to end. Chassis quantity 1701 recorded a mean
pace of 19.59 mph, returning a then-unheard-of gasoline effectivity of
over 24 mpg; it achieved 78.26 mph on a half-mile pace check performed
quickly afterwards and went on to change into the primary Rolls-Royce motor automobile
in historical past to exceed 100 mph.
Maybe Rolls-Royce’s best motorsport successes got here in
1913. On 15 June, two Silver Ghosts contested the inaugural Spanish
Grand Prix, a three-lap, 192-mile course taking in two
formidable passes within the rugged Guadarrama mountains, northwest of
Madrid. The race was gained by the splendidly named Don Carlos de
Salamanca y Hurtado de Zaldivar, later Marqués of Salamanca, who was
Rolls-Royce’s agent in Madrid; third place went to Rolls-Royce
test-driver Eric
Platford (25 February 1883 – 20 November 1938), who had been
chargeable for most of the marque’s earlier trials successes.
Per week later, a Rolls-Royce Works Group of three Silver Ghosts,
plus one privately-owned automobile ready to the identical requirements, have been on
the beginning line for the 1913
Alpine Trial. Held over eight days and overlaying 2,600km, it
began and completed in Vienna and included among the highest
mountain passes in Europe. The Silver Ghosts swept the board, taking
the primary 4 locations total in an occasion that noticed solely 31 of the 46
starters attain the end. Though the Alpine Trials continued till
1973, Rolls-Royce by no means once more entered a Works Group; nevertheless it didn’t
have to; the title of ‘the very best automobile on the planet’ had been gained – and
would by no means be relinquished.
THE TRANSITION ERA
Rolls-Royce’s automotive and aerospace actions
have been formally cut up into separate divisions within the late Nineteen Thirties by Ernest
Hives (21 April 1886 – 24 April 1965), whose exceptional profession
would take him from working as The Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls’
private chauffeur to Chairman of the corporate. From 1939 to 1945, the
marque concentrated fully on aero engine manufacturing; when peace
returned, it confronted a wholly modified business panorama.
In 1946, Rolls-Royce launched Silver Wraith, the primary of its
new ‘Rationalised
Range’ that shared frequent elements, a brand new engine that could possibly be
provided in straight-four, six- or eight-cylinder variants, and a
single chassis that could possibly be configured in variable dimensions. Like
all its predecessors, Silver Wraith was a rolling chassis, however in
1949, the corporate produced its first full Rolls-Royce motor automobile –
Silver
Dawn. This marked a profound change for the marque, reflecting the
realities of the post-war market but additionally giving it higher management
than ever earlier than over the design of its motor vehicles.
Over the next many years, Rolls-Royce would proceed to supply
some fashions, notably Phantom, as rolling chassis; the final coachbuilt
Rolls-Royce of the pre-Goodwood period was Phantom VI, constructed between 1968
and 1993. Its discontinuation successfully ended the custom of
coachbuilding, till it was revived at Goodwood in 2017 with ‘Sweptail’.
More and more, the marque favoured monocoque building, the place
the physique and floorpan are built-in right into a single ‘unibody’, with the
suspension and different mechanical parts carried on entrance and rear
subframes. The primary mannequin to be provided as a whole automobile solely was
the Silver
Shadow, launched in 1965.
In 1971, Rolls-Royce cut up its motor automobile and aero engine
actions into two separate entities – a distinction that is still to
today. Rolls-Royce Motor Vehicles is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BMW
Group, and fully unrelated to the aero engine producer,
Rolls-Royce plc.
THE GOODWOOD ERA
In July 1998, BMW Group acquired the Rolls-Royce
model. Ranging from a clean sheet of paper, it introduced its
intention to create a brand new firm, construct a brand new manufacturing facility in Britain, and
launch a brand new automobile, all by 1 January 2003. It was an enormously
bold endeavor, described on the time as ‘the final nice
journey in automotive historical past’.
At 00:01 on New 12 months’s Day 2003, the primary Phantom VII was
handed over to its new proprietor, marking the official begin of manufacturing
on the Dwelling of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood; the marque’s new company
headquarters and World Centre of Luxurious Manufacturing Excellence have been
formally open for enterprise.
Over its 13-year lifespan, Phantom VII cemented Rolls-Royce as
the world’s foremost superluxury motor automobile producer, and its personal
place because the marque’s pinnacle product. Over the subsequent 20 years,
Rolls-Royce launched a sequence of recent fashions, starting in 2010 with
Ghost. This was adopted by the fastback coupé Wraith(2013), the
drophead Daybreak (2016) and the ‘Rolls-Royce of SUVs’ Cullinan (2018),
along with their respective Black Badge variants. Spectre
(2022) grew to become the first-ever electrical sequence Rolls-Royce motor automobile,
adopted by its Black Badge variant in 2024.
In 2017, Rolls-Royce ushered in a brand new period of contemporary
coachbuilding with ‘Sweptail’. Additional Coachbuild commissions got here
in 2021 with the three Boat
Tail masterpieces; in 2024, Rolls-Royce offered Droptail,
its first true two-seater in additional than 50 years.
As of 2025, the product portfolio includes Phantom
VIII Series II, Ghost
Series II, Black
Badge Ghost Series II, Cullinan
Series II, Black
Badge Cullinan Series II, Spectre
and Black
Badge Spectre.
Each mannequin embodies Rolls-Royce’s design DNA and philosophy,
incorporating proportions and dimensions first outlined by Sir Henry
Royce himself. The marque is keenly conscious that the motor vehicles it
builds right now can hint their lineage straight again to 1904, and that
heritage is a crucial a part of the design course of. The launch of
Black Badge in 2016 rekindled the spirit of endeavour that started with
Charles Rolls’ early exploits in motor racing and aviation, and the
quite a few pace information set on land, water and within the air with machines
powered by Rolls-Royce engines. In 2022, Spectre fulfilled Rolls’
prophecy, made in {a magazine} article greater than a century earlier than, that
electrical energy’s clear, speedy and noiseless energy would someday show
the proper technique of propulsion for the motor automobile. And in 2025, the
marque topped a yr of celebrations to mark the a centesimal anniversary of
Phantom with the revealing of the Phantom
Centenary Private Collection, commemorating the individuals, locations
and occasions that formed its pinnacle product in beautiful materials and
extraordinary works of Bespoke craftsmanship.
Greater than 2,500 people are actually employed on the Dwelling of
Rolls-Royce at Goodwood – together with many highly-skilled manufacturing
and craft specialists – in addition to round 7,500 individuals within the
firm’s wider UK provide chain. In 2023, an independent
study by the London College of Economics (LSE) demonstrated that
Rolls-Royce Motor Vehicles contributes round half a billion kilos to the
UK financial system yearly, as a number one consultant of ‘UK PLC’.
THE NEXT ERA
In 2024, Rolls-Royce introduced a landmark
investment exceeding £300 million to increase the Dwelling of
Rolls-Royce at Goodwood. Representing the one largest funding
for the reason that plant opened in 2003 (when 300 individuals produced one motor automobile
every day), this transformation creates the house for ever extra
bold Bespoke and Coachbuild tasks, guaranteeing that Goodwood
stays the one place on the planet the place Rolls-Royce motor vehicles are
designed and hand-built.
It’s each an act of progress and a declaration of intent; to
carry ahead the spirit first set in movement by Charles Rolls, who
urged the world to dream and to dare, and Henry Royce, who insisted
that greatness should all the time be refined, by no means assumed. Greater than a
century on, their imaginative and prescient isn’t a reminiscence however a mandate — a dwelling
philosophy that continues to form objects and experiences which
encourage, astonish and endure, reminding the world that the pursuit of
perfection is infinite, and that the truest measure of heritage is how
powerfully it shapes the long run.
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