In the early 20th Century, two men very quite different backgrounds formed a partnership with the goal of making the best car in the world.
Charles Royce was born in London's Berkeley Square, son of the Lord and Lady Llangattock, while Henry Royce started working by the time was 9 years old, selling newspapers and working as telegram boy.
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The two men for the first time in Manchester, England on May 4, 1904 and founded the company whose name would become synonymous with luxury automobiles
That image of high living can be found in countless movies, including the 1964 James Bond film, "Goldfinger," where the eponymous villain owns a Rolls-Royce Phantom III and "The Yellow Rose Royce," which came out in the same year and tells the story of the titled character and its three different owners.
Topping the previous year
In 2013, the company began its White Glove chauffeur training program, which provides comprehensive training to those who chauffeur Rolls-Royce owners.
The instruction includes lessons in how to perform the “champagne stop,” a braking technique that ensures not a single drop of the sparkling white wine is spilled by the passengers while stopping.
And as Rolls-Royce enters its 120th year, the company, a subsidiary of BMW (BMWYY) -), is reporting record sales for 2023.
The automaker delivered 6,032 vehicles to more than 50 countries worldwide, up from last year’s record total of 6,021, which was the first time Rolls-Royce passed the 6,000 mark for the number of cars sold in a given year.
As in 2022, the company said that Cullinan, the full-sized SUV, was the most requested Rolls-Royce model worldwide, followed by Ghost, while the Phantom "continues to reign supreme as the marque’s pinnacle product."
Rolls-Royce reports sales growth in most of the markets in which it operates, with deliveries reaching new record levels in the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Europe regions.
The USA was Rolls-Royce’s single largest market worldwide, while Greater China reaffirmed the number two position.
Record annual sales and year-on-year growth in the Asia-Pacific region were fueled by a strong performance in Korea, the company said, “whose dynamic, vibrant economy is reflected in a rapidly expanding luxury market.”
An all-electric future
While the company stopped producing the Wraith and Dawn models in 2023, Rolls-Royce said the year was most notable for the start of production and sales of the Spectre, the company’s first all-electric car.
And this ties in with the automaker's recent announcement that it would discontinue all gas-powered cars and, beginning in 2030, start phasing out all its internal combustion engines in favor of electric technology.
Even the beloved V-12 engine Rolls-Royce uses in its current form will cease to exist in light of the company's new direction.
In-coming CEO Chris Brownridge said in a statement that "2023 was another extraordinary year for Rolls-Royce, with strong sales performances in all regions and across the full product portfolio."
He also said bespoke commissions set record levels, both by volume and value
“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," he said.
Brownridge, former CEO of BMW UK, is following Torsten Müller-Otvös, who retired as top executive and who stirred up some controversy when he said in a 2022 interview that Covid-19 deaths drove sales for the iconic luxury company.
"Quite a lot of people witnessed people in their community dying from Covid, that makes them think life can be short, and you'd better live now than postpone it to a later date," he said, according to the Financial Times.
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