Rolls-Royce Motor Cars PressClub · Article.
ROLLS-ROYCE MOTOR CARS IN 2023: A YEAR OF SUCCESS
Mon Jan 08 06:29:00 CET 2024 Press Release
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars enjoyed a highly successful year in 2023, with strong sales and demand for its products in markets worldwide, and Bespoke commissions at record levels.
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Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
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- Rolls-Royce Motor Cars reports a highly successful year in 2023 with strong business performance and Bespoke commissions at record levels
- Secure platform for further growth and development as the marque enters its 120th year: Charles Rolls and Henry Royce met for the first time on 4 May 1904
- More motor cars sold than ever before in marque’s 119-year history: 6,032 delivered to clients around the world, all including elements of Bespoke personalisation
- Global sales present a balanced picture, led by North America and China
- Year-on-year growth reported in regions including Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Europe
- Company’s positive economic impact grew further with the creation of 180 new jobs at the Home of Rolls-Royce in 2023
- New investment announced to increase capabilities for electric vehicle production, Bespoke commissions and future growth in Coachbuild activities. Planning application for extension at Goodwood site submitted in late summer 2023
“2023 was another extraordinary year for Rolls-Royce, with
strong sales performances in all regions and across the full product
portfolio. 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.
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 personalisation they
cannot find anywhere else.
“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. 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.”
Chris Brownridge, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
NEWS SUMMARY
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars enjoyed a highly successful year in 2023,
with strong sales and demand for its products in markets worldwide,
and Bespoke commissions at record levels.
The company’s strong performance was once again underpinned by
the uniqueness and diversity of its offer, particularly in respect of
Bespoke personalisation and the marque’s unrivalled ability to meet
and exceed clients’ ever-expanding expectations. The ongoing success
and growth of the marque’s Bespoke capabilities – supported by the
continuing expansion of the marque’s international Private Office
network – resulted in more and higher value Bespoke commissions than
ever before. Global sales of 6,032 motor cars were in line with
internal expectations and Rolls-Royce’s status as an international
luxury house, rather than a volume-driven manufacturer. All
Rolls-Royce motor cars are hand-built at the marque’s home in
Goodwood, UK and each one has elements of Bespoke.
While the hugely popular Wraith and Dawn models ceased
production as planned in 2023, the year was most notable for the start
of production and sales of Rolls-Royce Spectre, with the very first
client deliveries taking place in the autumn. Following its triumphant
public reveal in October 2022, the first all-electric Rolls-Royce in
history has attracted enormous interest, particularly among younger
clients; this demand has translated into orders extending into 2025,
laying a firm foundation for the marque’s bold, all-electric future.
The company’s long-term focus on Bespoke, and the growing
ambition of client commissions, is reflected in the ever-increasing
scope and sophistication of Rolls-Royce’s design, technology,
engineering and craftsmanship. During 2023, the company announced
substantial new investment in the Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood to
enhance capacity and capabilities for Bespoke and to support the
growth of Coachbuild. To meet clients’ growing demand for increasingly
detailed and extensive Bespoke commissions, Rolls-Royce expanded its
Private Office network further: following Dubai, which opened in 2022,
Shanghai opened in autumn 2023 and the marque confirmed its plans to
open Private Offices in Seoul and North America in 2024. The global
Rolls-Royce Private Office network enables a new level of client
engagement with the marque and is already delivering a significant
uplift in Bespoke demand.
FULL PRESS RELEASE
A WORLD-CLASS BUSINESS
Rolls-Royce enjoyed a highly successful year in 2023,
with strong sales and demand for its products in markets worldwide.
Every motor car hand-built at the Home of Rolls-Royce includes
some element of Bespoke, the company’s unique programme offering
personalisation possibilities which are limited only by the client’s
imagination. In 2023, Bespoke commissions reached new record levels by
both value and number; the technical innovations required to deliver
specific projects saw Rolls-Royce file a number of new patents during
the year. In 2023, more Rolls-Royce motor cars were delivered to
clients around the world than in any other year in the marque’s
119-year history.
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 UK economy at over £4
billion since 2003, and now over £500 million annually. The company
created 180 new jobs at its Global Centre of Luxury Manufacturing
Excellence in 2023, while more than 130 people joined the company’s
Future Talent programme in Apprenticeship, Internship or Graduate
Placement positions.
The marque also announced plans for significant new investment
to modernise and upgrade its manufacturing facilities to enhance its
Bespoke and Coachbuild capabilities and support production of its
future all-electric product portfolio.
In 2023, Rolls-Royce further enhanced its industry-leading
experiential luxury capabilities – a significant growth area within
the luxury sector. The marque’s successful and celebrated global
Private Office network, which offers clients a highly personalised
commissioning and ownership experience, expanded to Shanghai in 2023.
This unique programme, which began with Private Office Dubai in July
2022 – the first Private Office outside the company’s home at
Goodwood, UK – 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. This programme 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.
BESPOKE: FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH
Rolls-Royce Bespoke offers every client the
opportunity to express their personality through their motor car – an
unparalleled experience that was enjoyed by all clients in 2023. It is
this possibility to personalise any and every aspect of their motor
car, in partnership with design and engineering specialists at the
Home of Rolls-Royce, that is driving demand for Rolls-Royce products
among its patrons worldwide. 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.
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 mesmerising celestial animations
for Black Badge Ghost Ékleipsis; and exquisite hand-painted Gallery
artworks for Phantom ‘Inspired by Cinque Terre’.
A more comprehensive selection of the year’s Bespoke highlights
can be viewed here.
A LANDMARK YEAR FOR COACHBUILD
Bespoke 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. In 2023, the marque unveiled Droptail, the first true two-seater
roadster to be built by Rolls-Royce in more than half a century. Only
four examples of Droptail will ever be built and each highly
individual, deeply personal commission redraws the boundaries for
materials, craft techniques, technical innovations, and creativity,
not just for the automotive sector but the wider luxury industry.
ANNUAL GLOBAL SALES RESULTS 2023
In total, across more than 50 countries worldwide,
Rolls-Royce delivered 6,032 motor cars to clients – more than ever
before in the marque’s 119-year history.
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, laying a
foundation for a bold 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. As a luxury house, its
goal is to meet and exceed its clients’ expectations by building not
just ‘the best car in the world’, but the car that best represents
them and their personality. The global demand for Rolls-Royce products
and ownership experience reflects the technical excellence, creative
flair and meticulous attention to detail the company brings to this
process, and which clients can find nowhere else.
GLOBAL & REGIONAL SALES
Rolls-Royce reports 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 USA 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 UK 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 fuelled
by a strong performance in Korea, whose dynamic, vibrant economy is
reflected in a rapidly expanding luxury market.
CULLINAN LEADS THE WAY, WITH STRONG SALES FOR ALL MODELS
As in 2022, Cullinan 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-tonne, eight-wheeled leviathan powered
by two Rolls-Royce ‘R’ V12 aero engines.
SPECTRE
Rolls-Royce unveiled Spectre to the world in October
2022, with production starting in late summer 2023 and the first cars
delivered to clients in the autumn. The first all-electric series
Rolls-Royce in history has attracted enormous interest worldwide,
particularly among younger clients, setting a clear direction of
travel and establishing a solid foundation for the marque’s bold
electric future.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
In 2023, Rolls-Royce marked the first 20 years of
production at Goodwood by commissioning an independent study into the
economic impact the company achieves. Conducted by a team from the
London School of Economics (LSE) the study calculated Rolls-Royce’s
total contribution to the UK economy at over £4 billion since 2003,
and now more than £500 million 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 over 2,500 people working at the
Home of Rolls-Royce, Goodwood; 180 new jobs were created during 2023 alone.
FUTURE TALENT
One of the largest employers in the Chichester area,
Rolls-Royce continues to invest in its people through extensive
ongoing training programmes and its Future Talent programme.
Established in 2006, this programme 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 recognised vocational qualifications. The new
cohort also includes Degree Apprentices, who will complete their
undergraduate studies at the nearby University of Chichester.
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
In 2023, Rolls-Royce submitted plans for a major new
investment to modernise 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 the Home of Rolls-Royce 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.
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 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.
Around one-third of the new site will be landscaped, reflecting the
company’s ongoing commitment to supporting local wildlife and biodiversity.
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