Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce, a British luxury car and aero-engine manufacturer, was created as the result of a chance meeting between Henry Royce and Charles Rolls in 1904. The two made a deal - Royce would build cars and Rolls would sell them – and by 1906 the first Rolls-Royce was produced and named the Silver Ghost. The Silver Ghost – named “Best Car in the World” by the Autocar publication in 1907 – was immensely successful, allowing the fledging company to expand its operations and build a strong reputation. In 1931, Rolls-Royce acquired rival company Bentley, demonstrating the company’s dominance in the luxury car market. Rolls-Royce continued to be successful over the subsequent decades, producing a range of new vehicles including the Rolls-Royce Phantom models, the Wraith, the Silver Wraith, Silver Cloud and Silver Shadow. In the early 1970s, however, the company’s fortunes went into sharp decline. Rolls-Royce Limited was involved in the costly development of the RB211 jet engine, a project that resulted in its bankruptcy. The company was nationalized by the British Government, and the automobile division separated and sold as Rolls-Royce Motors. The new owner of the Rolls-Royce marque was British engineering company Vickers, which oversaw operations until 1998. Today, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is wholly-owned by German manufacturing giant BMW. Under the management of BMW, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars released a new Phantom sedan in 2003, followed by the Drophead Coupe convertible in 2007 and the Phantom Coupe in 2008. The Rolls-Royce Ghost small sedan joined the range in 2010, to excellent reviews.