Since 1 January 2003, every new Rolls-Royce car has been built at Goodwood, West Sussex, by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, a wholly owned subsidiary of the BMW Group. BMW secured the right to the Rolls-Royce name after a famous 1998 takeover battle with Volkswagen, then built a new factory and head office from scratch and developed an all-new Phantom. Under BMW, Rolls-Royce has grown from selling only a few hundred cars a year to regularly selling several thousand, with its Goodwood factory expanding to meet demand.

The 1998 tug-of-war

In 1998, the British engineering group Vickers sold Rolls-Royce Motors, which made both Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars at Crewe. BMW, which already supplied engines, was expected to win, but Volkswagen outbid it and bought the factory, the Bentley brand and the designs.

The catch: the Rolls-Royce name and logo for cars were controlled by Rolls-Royce plc, the separate aero-engine company, which licensed them to BMW instead. After negotiations, VW kept Bentley and Crewe, and BMW gained the right to build Rolls-Royce cars from 2003. Read Rolls-Royce vs Bentley for how the two brands diverged.

A new home at Goodwood

With no factory, no staff and no cars, BMW started from nothing. It chose a site on the Goodwood Estate, near Chichester, home of the Goodwood motor racing circuit and the Festival of Speed. The building, designed by architect Nicholas Grimshaw, is low and discreet, with a large living roof planted with sedum to blend into the countryside.

The Phantom VII

The first car was the Phantom VII, delivered from January 2003. It set the modern Rolls-Royce template — tall grille, coach doors, Spirit of Ecstasy — and restored the brand’s credibility. Read the Phantom history.

Growth

BMW added the Ghost (2009), the Wraith coupé and Dawn convertible, the Cullinan SUV (2018) and the electric Spectre (2023). The customer base became younger and more international, and bespoke personalization became a major part of the business. Annual sales grew into the thousands, with record years in the early 2020s.

How a Rolls-Royce is built today

Bodies arrive from BMW Group facilities, but paint, assembly and interior craftsmanship happen at Goodwood. Leather hides are selected and cut, wood veneers matched, the coachline hand-painted with a squirrel-hair brush, and Starlight Headliners hand-threaded. A single car can take many weeks from order to completion, and far longer if it is heavily bespoke. See how the Starlight Headliner is made.

Rolls-Royce in the BMW family

BMW engineering shows up in electronics, safety systems and engines, but Rolls-Royce has its own platform — the Architecture of Luxury — and its own design and engineering teams at Goodwood. BMW’s approach has been to fund and support the brand while letting it be distinctly British.