View source for Rolls-Royce

Luxury car maker, having established its niche early in its history with engineer Henry Royce and car dealership owner Charles Rolls in 1904. By 1907, their Silver Ghost, or 40/50 hp, was regarded as ‘the best car in the world’, and Rolls-Royce’s reputation was sealed for decades to come. It acquired [[Bentley]] during the Great Depression, and eventually there were few differences between Bentley and Rolls-Royce cars. It also branched out into aircraft engines, obtaining world records in the process. In the 1950s, Rolls-Royce began its association with the British Royal Family, supplanting [[Daimler]]. Nineteen seventy saw the company going into receivership, nationalized, then broken up into two divisions: one for aero engines (the state-owned Rolls-Royce Ltd., later going public as Rolls-Royce plc) and one for cars (Rolls-Royce Motors Ltd.), a private company from 1973.

In 1980, Vickers bought Rolls-Royce Motors Ltd., renaming it Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd. in 1985, and began promoting the Bentley marque, which had become known for being cheaper Rolls-Royce twins in the 1970s. [[Volkswagen]] wound up buying the company in 1998, while [[BMW]] successfully negotiated with Rolls-Royce plc for the rights to the Rolls-Royce trade mark for cars (the fact Rolls-Royce plc owned the rights was clearly stated on the Rolls-Royce car website at the time). In 2003, BMW took over the manufacture of Rolls-Royce cars. A new factory was set up under BMW at Goodwood, separating the marque from its long-time home at Crewe.


[[Category:Marques]]