British luxury carmaker Rolls-Royce is to invest £300 million to expand its Goodwood factory to focus on making custom cars. “This investment is an important step for Rolls-Royce. It is a clear indication of the success of our company. This investment will give us the space we need to create the most complex car designs and also give us the space we need to realize the Rolls Royce our customers are looking for,” said Chris Brownridge.
As with other automakers, Rolls-Royce has seen a growing demand for custom cars that are a luxury for the wealthy. The working staff takes care to satisfy every whim of the customers.
“At Rolls-Royce, we have an incredibly talented group of people who work on custom cars. These are individuals who are artists and they are truly creating art every day for our customers. As part of our network of private offices, in 2024 we opened an office in New York and also in Seoul, we have designers who ideate together with our customers the dream car”, said Chris Brownridge.
Rolls-Royce executives say the investment in the Goodwood factory will enable customers to access the Bespoke service and Coachbuild programme.
The former is an invitation-only service where customers can customize every aspect of their vehicle while the latter is an invitation-only service for wealthy customers who wish to “create a completely original car”. The £300 million investment is the biggest since the factory opened in 2003, when it employed 300 people and produced just one car a day. Today, the Goodwood factory employs 2500 people and produces 28 cars a day. Rolls-Royce also said that globally it sold 5712 cars in 2024, a drop of more than 5% from the 6,032 cars it sold in 2023.
This statistic is in line with the company’s expectations as it is focusing on creating customized cars. Meanwhile, the leaders are also prepared for the imposition of new tariffs by the US with the coming to power of Donald Trump. They say that such a scenario will not change the company’s vision and its objectives.
“Rolls Royce has an incredible heritage. We’ve been making beautiful motor cars for 120 years and selling them to customers all over the world. The United States of America is a very important market for Rolls Royce, but we have many other markets that are also very important. So in the future in the United States, will there be a fee? What we do know is that in the luxury industry our customers tend to be more flexible when it comes to price,” said Chris Brownridge.
Notably, the Middle East was the largest custom Region by average value per car, followed by North America and Europe. In 2024, Rolls-Royce also benefited from smaller but fast-growing markets including Malaysia, Thailand and the Netherlands.
