Rolls Royce News
Rolls-Royce Press Conference, NAIAS
By Source: Rolls-Royce Motorcars
Jan 8, 2004, 11:05

TONY GOTT

Ladies and gentlemen thank you for joining us this morning.

Exactly 12 months ago I was standing here on one of the proudest days of my working life, unveiling the Phantom to you. And launching our new company - Rolls-Royce Motor Cars - as one of the authentic premium brands in the BMW Group. Back then, we were confident and excited, but we knew the future would be very challenging, as it always is when you go from concept to implementation. It was only in January last year that we could break cover for the first time and begin our business, virtually from scratch.

I know I speak for everyone at Goodwood - the home of Rolls-Royce - when I say that this last year has been one of the most exciting, rewarding, and often challenging, in all our professional experience. From the first unveilings here in Detroit and at Goodwood and the global media driving event in Santa Barbara, to the official opening of the Goodwood plant in May, the Festival of Speed, the Goodwood Revival, Pebble Beach, dealer openings, national launches, motor shows and appearances at myriad events all around the world, it really has been quite a year!

And, I must say, I am enormously proud when I look back at what we have accomplished. It was a pretty tall order to launch a totally new car, in a new plant, built by a new team and sold by a new dealer network , but we did it, and in a stunningly short period of time.

But we could not have been successful without the help and support of our BMW Group colleagues who have provided us with the engineering expertise, technology and financial resources that have made the company one of the most successful and respected names in the automotive world. We are very proud to be a small part of such a wonderful organisation.

At Goodwood, over a ten month period, we gradually ramped-up production from one car per fortnight to five cars per day, our planned production rate. We were determined not to be rushed into running? before we could walk. Our approach was to ensure quality every step of the way.

Last year we built 481 Phantoms, of which 200 were produced in November and December, to give you an idea of the ramp-up. Every car is built to an individual customer order, and takes around 260 hours of skilled labour to build. This allowed us to deliver 300 cars to our customers around the world by the end of the year.

We have always said that we would average about 1000 cars per year over the lifecycle of the Phantom. Next year, our first full year of production, we believe the 1000 mark is within our grasp.

One of the most gratifying things about the past year has been the wonderful reaction to the Phantom from the media, customers, Rolls-Royce owners' and enthusiasts' clubs, and the public at large. Whenever the Phantom has made a public appearance it has never failed to draw an enthusiastic crowd. In particular, the media coverage has been overwhelmingly positive and I?d like to thank you very much for your support. I know some of you were a bit sceptical about our efforts before we were able to tell you and show you what we had been up to.


When I spoke to you this time last year, nobody outside Rolls-Royce had driven the Phantom. And, if there is one thing we have discovered during this past 12 months, it is that however much the design of the Phantom might impress you, getting behind the wheel takes you to an even higher level of appreciation. As soon as our dealers were able to offer test-drives to potential customers, prospects rapidly became customers. And nowhere was this more significant than here in North America where the vast majority of owners will drive themselves.

The Phantom is a car that has been designed to reward the driver just as much as it does the passengers. This approach seems to really resonate with North American customers, which is vital for us, as we always knew that the USA would be our biggest market. The response here has been every bit as strong as we anticipated, and then some! For the past calendar year, the North American market accounted for about half of Rolls-Royce sales. Later, I will ask Jim Selwa, president of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars North America to elaborate on this wonderful performance.

Looking ahead, our order bank is looking healthy too. In this market, if you were to commission a Phantom today, it would be available for delivery around the middle of the year. All of the production slots prior to that are spoken for.

This year, 2004, is very special because we are celebrating our first year in business. But, it is special for another reason as well. It was on the 4th of May 1904 that Charles Rolls and Henry Royce met at the Midland Hotel in Manchester, England. Royce took Rolls for a test drive in the car he had designed and built. So impressed was Rolls with the quality of its engineering and the refinement of the engine that he immediately agreed to join forces with Royce and so one of the greatest name in automotive history was born.


The history of Rolls-Royce is a truly glorious one, encompassing world speed records on land, on water and in the air, patronage by royal families, heads of state, famous actors, sports figures, artists, and captains of industry. People who genuinely made their mark on the world, made Rolls-Royce their motor car.

We will, of course, be joining the celebrations this year, with a full programme of events. We are looking forward to joining the Rolls-Royce owners' and enthusiasts' clubs in New Zealand at the end of this month for the start of their centenary world tour, which will include Australia, Europe and, of course, here in the States, ending at Pebble Beach in August. Rolls-Royce will be the featured marque at both the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Pebble Beach this year, as part of the celebrations, and we will be marking the actual day of the centenary, 4 May, with something fitting at the site where Rolls and Royce had their very first meeting.

In celebrating this wonderful anniversary, we must remind ourselves of what has made the Rolls-Royce name so special. Sir Henry Royce said, "Take the best that exists and make it better". And, "If it doesn't exist, design it". These principles have formed the bedrock upon which we work today. We have been guided by these same principles in developing the Phantom, our headquarters at Goodwood, and in our stewardship of Rolls-Royce within the BMW Group, especially with regard to technical competence. These principles, which have stood up so well to the test of time, will continue to guide our company into the future

Now it is my pleasure to introduce Jim Selwa, president of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars North America. Jim will give you a perspective from this side of the ocean and tell you about our largest and most competitive market. Jim??
###

JIM SELWA

Good Morning. As Tony stated this has been a terrific first year for our company. With the establishment of the new Rolls-Royce just one year ago we had to launch a totally new car, with a totally new organisation through a new dealer network here in the toughest market in the world. The result has been impressive.

Tony wasn't overstating the importance of North America to Rolls-Royce. While we are not in the volume end of the car business, there is no doubt that the volume North America represents is critical to the success of the company. For this reason, many important steps in the company's earliest days took place in the US.

In January, at this show we had the first public reveal of the Phantom. From here our team went to California to prepare for and host our global press ride and drive in Santa Barbara. Over the period of one month - one hundred and two journalists from around the world came and experienced the Phantom on the roads of America, in some cases much to the amazement of the local police!

We then took our fleet of pre-production Phantoms from dealership to dealership, event to event, coast to coast. The people in our organisation, our dealers and our prospects put a total of over 150,000 miles on those early cars between March and December!

We have had thousands of people sitting in and driving these Phantoms. We made no attempt to baby these cars either; they have been on the track on East and West coast press day events. And a group of journalists even did a New York to New Orleans shoot out against our competition.


But let me reflect on our achievements this year. Rolls-Royce has always been the dominant brand in the ultra luxury market but its image has suffered during the past decade. There is no doubt, however, that the turnaround has begun over the past year. There is a clear understanding in the marketplace about what Rolls-Royce stands for under BMW Group ownership, the astounding marriage of technology and craftsmanship in an authentic new Rolls-Royce.

Most of the work we have done here in North America has been to transform the Rolls-Royce image from its recent rather shopworn reputation as an expensive status symbol to one of automotive respectability.

While we downplay prestige and focus on the driving experience, nothing says Fortune 500 like a Rolls-Royce. In the past, corporate research suggested that Rolls-Royce motoring was centered on someone other than the owner doing the driving. With the Phantom, the owner uses this car as a daily driver. At least 95 percent of our new owners in this market are telling us that they are steering for themselves.

By the way, a recent survey showed that most people who have considered buying a Rolls-Royce motor car are aware of the fact that we are owned by BMW. Further, they consider it a key reason to buy one of our cars.

There clearly is different technology in the Phantom - unlike anything ever seen in a past Rolls-Royce. The levels of technology have been applied to attract both the younger as well as the traditional buyer.


Who is buying the Phantom? Many people tend to think only the music and entertainment crowd buy Rolls-Royce. While they do, they only comprise a fraction of the total. The majority of buyers we are seeing are very successful business entrepreneurs and captains of industry, mostly males. These guys have worked very hard all their lives and this is part of their reward. Our average customer has about six other luxury cars and a net worth in excess of $30 million, excluding their home.

A few more facts about the new Rolls-Royce in North America: our dealer network includes 26 in the U.S., one in Canada and shortly one in Mexico. Geographically, we are the strongest in New York, Southern California and Florida.

Our first shipments of production cars arrived in May,19 motor cars. We did not have any cars scheduled for several weeks after that. During that period of time the first cars for other markets would be produced, and we would have a chance to gather customer feedback about our initial shipments.

Customer acceptance of the first Phantoms was terrific.

Cars began arriving again in late July. By this time, the line rate had climbed to 2 to 3 cars per day. Even though the line rate was climbing, increased order intake meant the time to delivery was stretching out.

During this entire period the most frequent requests we had was from customers who just wanted to get their cars sooner. In an effort to satisfy this happiest of all problems, we decided to fly in virtually every car between November and the end of the year. I am pleased to be able to report that we retailed 169 cars last year, of which 79 were in December, so you can see how our business has ramped up progressively through the year.

I would be remiss at this point if I did not join Tony in giving credit to one other powerful tool that we enjoy today. That tool is the backing and cooperation of the BMW Group, and in particular BMW North America.

Finally, we told you that this was a very special year for us. We will be doing many exciting things as the year rolls along in honour of our one hundred year anniversary. I can only add to that statement by saying, if you like what we have shown you so far, keep watching this spring, after all, it is our anniversary and you have to do something really special to celebrate,..don't you?

Thank you ladies and gentleman.

© Copyright 2003 by mwerks.com