If you ordered a bespoke Roller you will need to wait a little.
In June 1998, the iconic and rather pompous British luxury car maker Rolls-Royce was sold by its owner Vickers to German automotive giant BMW for £340m. Since 1904 the Rolls-Royce brand has been synonymous with perfection. The cars have been identified with luxury, power and success, not only because they are of the most expensive cars in the world, but because of what they represented. This representation continues till today as a BMW subsidiary.
PRESS RELEASE: Now, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars announced yesterday that production at the company’s Goodwood-based manufacturing plant will be suspended from Monday 23 March for two weeks. In order to further secure the health and welfare of the employees of the company this suspension will be followed by an already-planned two-week Easter maintenance shutdown.
This announcement sent to the media is more to inform customers waiting for their exclusive bespoke cars to be delivered to them. The wealthy are mostly impatient people and with every bespoke Rolls Royce order comes a waiting time that will have most buyers irritated. Still, it is a Rolls Royce and waiting for a bespoked car is necessary.
The day-to-day operations of the company will be assured by non-production employees who will remain at work at the company’s head office on the Goodwood Estate in West Sussex or who will work from home on a rotational basis. Social distancing measures have been introduced throughout the company.
This unprecedented action has been taken following the introduction of additional measures by the UK Government to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.
Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, said, “This action has not been taken lightly, but the health and well-being of our exceptional workforce is first and foremost in our minds. We are a tight-knit community at the Home of Rolls‑Royce and I have no doubt that our resilience will shine through during this extraordinary time.” He continued, “As a deeply customer-focused company we are aware that this decision to pause our production will possibly cause some discomfort or inconvenience to a few of our esteemed patrons, for which we apologize while seeking their understanding at this difficult time.”
