Making a motor car is not a simple process. Making a Rolls-Royce requires a whole new level of skill and complexity. Perhaps the best-known luxury brand in the world, Rolls-Royce is head-quartered in Goodwood, England. This is the home of bespoke luxury, a car factory that has more in common with a grand fashion house, a place where ideas are shaped, lifelong ambitions are realised and dreams come to life. It is at Goodwood, where Rolls-Royce continues its rich heritage of engineering, design and technology, innate understanding of craft and materials and strong desire to tell the stories that meet the vision and imagination of its customers.
Building a Rolls-Royce is a complex undertaking. It takes at least 400 hours to create every vehicle, with up to 800 hours of design, manufacture, assembly and craft demanded by the most intensive bespoke designs. Rolls-Royce prides itself on offering limitless possibilities, with the close collaboration of artists, designers, craftspeople and makers taking every car to another level of individuality. From the first lines on a sketchpad to the final quality checks, some 60 pairs of hands will have crafted, shaped, assembled and scrutinised every facet of a new Rolls-Royce, bringing their individual skills and 113 years of design experience to bear on what is a truly unique object.
For over a century, Rolls-Royce has stood for excellence, innovation and individualism, values that each and every car continues to bear. The place that makes all this possible is Goodwood, Rolls-Royce’s global headquarters and the beating heart of the brand. Behind the walls of this award-winning factory complex, designed by the architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw in 2003, is where Rolls-Royces are brought to life.
Securing rare access to Goodwood reveals an unseen world of innovation. Rolls-Royce is a marque that begets superlatives. The statistics are impressive. Each car comprises of some 2,800 components, yet every specification offers almost limitless choice. 44,000 paint colours. 20,000 varieties of wood for specialist veneer interior trim. Seven traditional forms of craft are applied on each bespoke interior, from leather stitching and trimming, through to veneer, embossing, embroidery and fine metalworking. Only one in 100 hides are deemed sufficiently blemish-free to be used for upholstering a Rolls-Royce interior, while the wool carpets are of an impressive depth and softness. Wood is crafted, shaped and polished to perfection, and controls and levels are meticulously formed from the highest quality metals.
Through collaborations, commissions and limited editions, a Rolls-Royce becomes increasingly comparable to a unique work of art.
Every facet of every Rolls-Royce is shaped by the customer's desire and the company's skills. Should you so wish, Rolls-Royce's unique “Starlight Headliner” picks out a night sky rendered in hundreds of pinpricks of fibre-optic light. Each starscape consists of 1,340 lights, configurable to any constellation of your choice. With Phantom's innovative new Gallery feature, unique works of art and craft can form an integral component of the car. Through collaborations, commissions and limited editions, a Rolls-Royce becomes increasingly comparable to a unique work of art; not just a mode of transport, but a true representation of contemporary culture and creativity.
Just like the cars themselves, the Goodwood building has been designed to be discretely elegant. Incorporating highly sustainable energy-saving design into its finely proportioned high-tech structure, every detail is resolved, every component chosen for performance and every material for its suitability, strength and tactile sensibility. It is here that human skill and experience are translated into automotive perfection. At Goodwood, everything is possible and the future is shaped with tradition and innovation. Rolls-Royce has mastered the art of making vehicles unlike any other.
For more information, visit Rolls-Royce.
