- Rolls-Royce Motor Cars studies a extremely profitable yr in 2023 with robust enterprise efficiency and Bespoke commissions at file ranges
- Secure platform for additional progress and improvement because the marque enters its 120th yr: Charles Rolls and Henry Royce met for the primary time on 4 May 1904
- More motor automobiles bought than ever earlier than in marque’s 119-year historical past: 6,032 delivered to purchasers world wide, all together with components of Bespoke personalisation
- Global gross sales current a balanced image, led by North America and China
- Year-on-year progress reported in areas together with Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Europe
- Company’s constructive financial influence grew additional with the creation of 180 new jobs on the Home of Rolls-Royce in 2023
- New funding introduced to extend capabilities for electrical car manufacturing, Bespoke commissions and future progress in Coachbuild actions. Planning software for extension at Goodwood web site submitted in late summer season 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 loved a extremely profitable yr in 2023, with robust gross sales and demand for its merchandise in markets worldwide, and Bespoke commissions at file ranges.
The firm’s robust efficiency was as soon as once more underpinned by the distinctiveness and variety of its provide, significantly in respect of Bespoke personalisation and the marque’s unrivalled skill to satisfy and exceed purchasers’ ever-expanding expectations. The ongoing success and progress of the marque’s Bespoke capabilities – supported by the persevering with enlargement of the marque’s worldwide Private Office community – resulted in additional and better worth Bespoke commissions than ever earlier than. Global gross sales of 6,032 motor automobiles have been in keeping with inside expectations and Rolls-Royce’s standing as a world luxurious home, moderately than a volume-driven producer. All Rolls-Royce motor automobiles are hand-built on the marque’s dwelling in Goodwood, UK and each has components of Bespoke.
While the vastly standard Wraith and Dawn fashions ceased manufacturing as deliberate in 2023, the yr was most notable for the beginning of manufacturing and gross sales of Rolls-Royce Spectre, with the very first consumer deliveries going down within the autumn. Following its triumphant public reveal in October 2022, the primary all-electric Rolls-Royce in historical past has attracted huge curiosity, significantly amongst youthful purchasers; this demand has translated into orders extending into 2025, laying a agency basis for the marque’s daring, all-electric future.
The firm’s long-term concentrate on Bespoke, and the rising ambition of consumer commissions, is mirrored within the ever-increasing scope and class of Rolls-Royce’s design, know-how, engineering and craftsmanship. During 2023, the corporate introduced substantial new funding within the Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood to boost capability and capabilities for Bespoke and to assist the expansion of Coachbuild. To meet purchasers’ rising demand for more and more detailed and in depth Bespoke commissions, Rolls-Royce expanded its Private Office community additional: 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 international Rolls-Royce Private Office community allows a brand new stage of consumer engagement with the marque and is already delivering a big uplift in Bespoke demand.
FULL PRESS RELEASE
A WORLD-CLASS BUSINESS
Rolls-Royce loved a extremely profitable yr in 2023, with robust gross sales and demand for its merchandise in markets worldwide.
Every motor automotive hand-built on the Home of Rolls-Royce consists of some component of Bespoke, the corporate’s distinctive programme providing personalisation potentialities that are restricted solely by the consumer’s creativeness. In 2023, Bespoke commissions reached new file ranges by each worth and quantity; the technical improvements required to ship particular initiatives noticed Rolls-Royce file plenty of new patents in the course of the yr. In 2023, extra Rolls-Royce motor automobiles have been delivered to purchasers world wide than in some other yr within the marque’s 119-year historical past.
To mark 20 years of manufacturing at Goodwood, Rolls-Royce commissioned an unbiased examine into the marque’s financial influence, which calculated its complete contribution to the UK financial system at over £4 billion since 2003, and now over £500 million yearly. The firm created 180 new jobs at its Global Centre of Luxury Manufacturing Excellence in 2023, whereas greater than 130 individuals joined the corporate’s Future Talent programme in Apprenticeship, Internship or Graduate Placement positions.
The marque additionally introduced plans for important new funding to modernise and improve its manufacturing amenities to boost its Bespoke and Coachbuild capabilities and assist manufacturing of its future all-electric product portfolio.
In 2023, Rolls-Royce additional enhanced its industry-leading experiential luxurious capabilities – a big progress space inside the luxurious sector. The marque’s profitable and celebrated international Private Office community, which provides purchasers a extremely personalised commissioning and possession expertise, expanded to Shanghai in 2023. This distinctive programme, which started with Private Office Dubai in July 2022 – the primary Private Office exterior the corporate’s dwelling at Goodwood, UK – provides purchasers direct entry to Rolls-Royce’s personal designers and engineers. The influence of those new worldwide Private Offices has already been important, with a marked enhance within the quantity and complexity of Bespoke commissions. This programme will probably be prolonged with two new worldwide areas in 2024.
In addition to this, the marque’s Whispers app witnessed important will increase in engagement. Reserved solely for Goodwood-era Rolls-Royce purchasers, the digital members’ membership allows customers to profit from unique merchandise and experiences chosen from the marque’s wider community inside the luxurious {industry}, additional establishing the model as a focus inside the lives of householders.
BESPOKE: FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH
Rolls-Royce Bespoke provides each consumer the chance to specific their character by means of their motor automotive – an unparalleled expertise that was loved by all purchasers in 2023. It is that this chance to personalise any and each facet of their motor automotive, in partnership with design and engineering specialists on the Home of Rolls-Royce, that’s driving demand for Rolls-Royce merchandise amongst its patrons worldwide. In 2023, Bespoke commissions reached new file ranges by each quantity and worth, with lots of the most creatively formidable and technically difficult originating within the Middle East.
Bespoke initiatives accomplished in 2023 included many ‘firsts’ for the marque that have been additionally technical improvements. These included the scent-release mechanism hid within the headrests of Phantom Syntopia, which integrated know-how initially developed for medical purposes, whereas many Bespoke paint finishes achieved in 2023 required fully new supplies, strategies and formulations to attain.
The yr’s commissions additionally created new alternatives in the usage of uncommon and exquisite supplies and complex craft strategies. These included: beautiful mother-of-pearl inlays for ‘The Pearl Cullinan’; hand-perforated leather-based seats for Black Badge Cullinan Blue Shadow; Starlight Headliners incorporating mesmerising celestial animations for Black Badge Ghost Ékleipsis; and beautiful hand-painted Gallery artworks for Phantom ‘Inspired by Cinque Terre’.
A extra complete number of the yr’s Bespoke highlights will be considered here.
A LANDMARK YEAR FOR COACHBUILD
Bespoke finds its final expression in Coachbuild, an exacting, extremely collaborative course of during which Rolls-Royce and the consumer co-create each element of the motor automotive, together with its bodily kind. In 2023, the marque unveiled Droptail, the primary true two-seater roadster to be constructed by Rolls-Royce in additional than half a century. Only 4 examples of Droptail will ever be constructed and every extremely particular person, deeply private fee redraws the boundaries for supplies, craft strategies, technical improvements, and creativity, not only for the automotive sector however the wider luxurious {industry}.
ANNUAL GLOBAL SALES RESULTS 2023
In complete, throughout greater than 50 international locations worldwide, Rolls-Royce delivered 6,032 motor automobiles to purchasers – greater than ever earlier than within the marque’s 119-year historical past.
While the primary half of the yr marked the tip of manufacturing for Rolls-Royce Wraith and Dawn as deliberate, the fourth quarter of the yr noticed the primary deliveries of Rolls-Royce Spectre, laying a basis for a daring electrical future during which the marque plans to provide solely fully-electric automobiles by the tip of 2030.
This robust gross sales efficiency must be seen within the context of Rolls-Royce’s elementary, persistently said place that it isn’t and by no means will probably be a volume-driven enterprise. As a luxurious home, its aim is to satisfy and exceed its purchasers’ expectations by constructing not simply ‘the best car in the world’, however the automotive that greatest represents them and their character. The international demand for Rolls-Royce merchandise and possession expertise displays the technical excellence, inventive aptitude and meticulous consideration to element the corporate brings to this course of, and which purchasers can discover nowhere else.
GLOBAL & REGIONAL SALES
Rolls-Royce studies gross sales progress within the majority of the markets during which it operates, with deliveries reaching new file ranges within the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Europe areas.
The USA was Rolls-Royce’s single largest market worldwide, whereas Greater China reaffirmed its standing because the marque’s second-largest market. Record gross sales have been achieved in Europe, the place the UK is the biggest single market. Supported by the Private Office Dubai, the Middle East maintained its place because the main supply of extremely elaborate and technically demanding Bespoke commissions. Record annual gross sales and year-on-year progress within the Asia-Pacific area have been fuelled by a robust efficiency in Korea, whose dynamic, vibrant financial system is mirrored in a quickly increasing luxurious market.
CULLINAN LEADS THE WAY, WITH STRONG SALES FOR ALL MODELS
As in 2022, Cullinan was probably the most requested Rolls-Royce mannequin worldwide, adopted by Ghost. Phantom continues to reign supreme because the marque’s pinnacle product.
As deliberate, in 2023 Rolls-Royce ceased manufacturing of Wraith (launched in 2013) and Dawn (2015). With Wraith’s departure from the portfolio, Rolls-Royce has now made its last-ever V12 coupé, an historic second commemorated within the imposing Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow Collection. Released in March and restricted to only 12 examples, the Bespoke artistry seen inside these historic fashions was impressed by the world land pace information 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 manufacturing beginning in late summer season 2023 and the primary automobiles delivered to purchasers within the autumn. The first all-electric collection Rolls-Royce in historical past has attracted huge curiosity worldwide, significantly amongst youthful purchasers, setting a transparent course of journey and establishing a strong basis for the marque’s daring electrical future.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
In 2023, Rolls-Royce marked the primary 20 years of manufacturing at Goodwood by commissioning an unbiased examine into the financial influence the corporate achieves. Conducted by a workforce from the London School of Economics (LSE) the examine calculated Rolls-Royce’s complete contribution to the UK financial system at over £4 billion since 2003, and now greater than £500 million yearly.
Around a fifth of that contribution is made immediately in Chichester and West Sussex, by means of native provide chains and employment of its native workforce. There at the moment are over 2,500 individuals working on the Home of Rolls-Royce, Goodwood; 180 new jobs have been created throughout 2023 alone.
FUTURE TALENT
One of the biggest employers within the Chichester space, Rolls-Royce continues to spend money on its individuals by means of in depth ongoing coaching programmes and its Future Talent programme. Established in 2006, this programme helps greater than 100 Apprenticeships, Graduate Placements and paid Internships yearly, guaranteeing the marque’s expertise pool is at all times capable of service ongoing product and Bespoke demand. In 2023, the corporate welcomed 27 Apprentices, who will spend between two and 4 years studying specialist craft expertise alongside skilled colleagues, whereas learning for nationally recognised vocational {qualifications}. The new cohort additionally consists of Degree Apprentices, who will full their undergraduate research on the close by University of Chichester.
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
In 2023, Rolls-Royce submitted plans for a significant new funding to modernise and improve its manufacturing amenities. The plans will improve and lengthen the marque’s Bespoke and Coachbuild capabilities in addition to assist manufacturing of its future all-electric product portfolio. This important funding represents the only largest injection of recent capital on the Home of Rolls-Royce because the web site opened in 2003. This displays the size of the transformation within the firm’s measurement, actions, industrial success and international affect within the intervening twenty years.
While over this time the present plant has seen important modifications internally – most notably going from two manufacturing traces to at least one – the constructing itself is actually the identical because it was on day one. Then, it employed round 300 individuals and produced only one motor automotive a day.
Following in depth session with native residents, in late summer season 2023 the corporate submitted a proper planning software for an extension to the Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood on land instantly adjoining to its present 42-acre web site. The plans take account of the positioning’s distinctive location, on the south-west nook of the historic Goodwood Estate and near the South Downs National Park boundary. Like the unique constructing, the brand new extension will probably be extremely sustainable, and largely invisible at floor stage past the positioning. Around one-third of the brand new web site will probably be landscaped, reflecting the corporate’s ongoing dedication to supporting native wildlife and biodiversity.