Maker record
Rolls Royce
Rolls-Royce is a British motor-car marque established through the 1904 partnership of engineer Henry Royce and car dealer Charles Rolls; Rolls-Royce Limited was incorporated in 1906. Its early range included the six-cylinder 40/50 H.P., later known as the Silver Ghost. The company initially supplied rolling chassis for specialist coachbuilders, then introduced its first complete car, the Silver Dawn, in 1949. Since 2003, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has built cars at Goodwood, with a range including saloons, coupés, an SUV and the electric Spectre.
- Founded
- 1906
- Locations
- United Kingdom
The story of Rolls Royce
Henry Royce, an engineer whose business made electrical and mechanical equipment, built a motor car in 1904. Car dealer Charles Rolls met Royce in Manchester that year and agreed to sell the cars Royce could produce. Rolls-Royce Limited was formally incorporated on 15 March 1906. That year the company launched the six-cylinder 40/50 H.P.; an early example became known as the Silver Ghost. Nearly 8,000 were built in Britain and the United States over 18 years.
Until 1949, Rolls-Royce supplied rolling chassis, with specialist coachbuilders making the bodies to customers’ specifications. The company began producing complete cars with the Silver Dawn in 1949. The Silver Shadow, introduced in 1965, was its first model offered only as a complete car. In 1971, the motor-car and aero-engine businesses became separate entities.
BMW Group acquired the Rolls-Royce brand in 1998 and established a new motor-car company in Britain. Production at Goodwood began on 1 January 2003 with the Phantom VII. Subsequent models included Ghost, Wraith, Dawn and Cullinan; Spectre, launched in 2022, was the marque’s first electric series-production car. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is a BMW Group subsidiary and is separate from Rolls-Royce plc, the aero-engine manufacturer.
