British luxury carmaker Rolls-Royce is set to invest more than £300 million (A$597.594 million) to expand its factory and headquarters to meet an increased demand for bespoke models.
The company revealed in a statement that the expansion of their Goodwood site in West Sussex will create space to build more highly-customised versions of its cars for its high-end clients.
Additionally, it will ready the manufacturing facility for the marque’s transition to an all-battery electric vehicle (BEV) future.
While producing individually tailored cars is profitable for the company, the process requires intense labour, time and space which has motivated the single largest injection of capital since the site’s opening in January 2003.
Rolls-Royce is relatively insulated from many of the challenges facing the wider European motor industry due to its high volume of exports and operating in a rarefied luxury market.
The company sold 5,712 cars in 2024, marginally less than in 2023. However, the total value of sales was higher due to more bespoke builds sold.
Personalised models reached record levels with their value increasing 10% on average per motor car year-on-year - the highest level in the company’s history.
Custom features included solid 18-carat gold sculptures, intricate embroideries with more than 869,500 stitches, delicate marquetry composed of more than 500 individually shaped pieces of wood, mother-of-pearl artworks, and holographic paint finishes.
The Middle East was the largest Bespoke region by average value per motor car and North America was the largest sales region by the number of motor cars handed over to clients.
In 2024, Rolls-Royce also benefited from smaller but fast-growing markets, including Malaysia, Thailand, and the Netherlands.
The UAE, Germany and Japan, all large and well-established markets achieved record sales in 2024 and experienced a significant rise in demand for customised vehicles, with some of the most ambitious commissions originating in these markets.
Following the UK’s commitment to phasing out sales of petrol and diesel cars by 2030, Rolls-Royce is set to announce its next electric vehicle model later in the year.
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