Rolls Royce – “The Name” in Exquisite Luxury
As I have grown up, I have seen cars grow in character. Every single car has a different style and a different motive behind it. Some are designed to take the entire family for a comfortable ride and some are just made to make a fool out of every family member – the VW Beetle is a classic example. Apart from the league of mass-production cars, there is a league where only a small bunch of people reach – the likes of Raging Lambos, the fire-spitting Ferraris and the big-bulky no-nonsense Rolls Royces.
The double Rs on top of the patented, hand-crafted, radiator grill of the most reputed name in the automotive industry, moves me more than any other car in this world. Let us learn a little bit more about the King of the luxury car maker.
Rolls Royce Motors was created in 1973 during the de-merger of the Rolls Royce car business from the nationalised Rolls Royce Ltd. The de-merger mainly took place because the British government wanted to concentrate on jet engine manufacturing. In 1980, Vickers Plc (a company which was into Defence Engineering) acquired RR Motors. Imagine the kind of cars RR would have made if this collaboration wouldn't have gone down, would have definitely given the Hummer a competition. Just a thought! In 1998, Vickers Plc decided to sell RR Motors and the leading contender seemed to be BMW who already were doing great business with RR Motors, supplying ICEs (Internal Combustion Engines) for RR and Bentley cars. However, their final offer of 340 Million GBP was outgunned by the VW group with a 430 Million GBP offer.
In this deal, the VW group acquired the rights for the radiator grille shape and the Spirit of Ecstasy mascot. The RR brand name and logo however was being managed by the aero-engine maker Rolls Royce Plc and not Rolls Royce Motors. Later on, the aero-engine maker decided to sell the rights of the RR name and logo to BMW and not to VW simply because BMW shared joint business ventures with RR. How much did BMW pay for the rights? It was a mere 40 Million GBP – a bargain if one considers the brand value that RR had and still does now. Volkswagen Group had the rights to the mascot and grille but lacked rights to the Rolls-Royce name in order to build the cars, likewise BMW had the name but lacked rights to the grille and mascot.
In the end, BMW won the arm wrestling match by simply stating the fact that they could withdraw the engine supply with a notice of 12 months, which was an insufficient time for VW to make their own engine for the RR cars. VW, to keep their dignity alive, claimed it only wanted the Bentley marque anyway from the deal as Bentley sold nearly twice as much cars, when compared to RR.
Starting January 1st 2003, only BMW would be able to name cars as Rolls Royce and the VW group former Rolls Royce/Bentley division had the rights to built Bentley cars.
Ok I admit the history lesson was a tad too long. But to explain why the cars made by RR move me from within more than any other is based on the way they make their cars. Some features that you can find on today's Phantom...
The customer gets to choose from 44000 body colours for the car and choose any leather colour for the interior trim.
Thanks to advanced sound insulation and the refinement of the engine, you cannot make out how fast the car is going, apart from looking at the speedo or at the scenery outside moving quickly.
The 'RR' logos on each of the wheel hubs are independent bezels in order to always remain upright while the wheel is rotating.
The Spirit of Ecstasy marque is made of solid silver and at a touch of a button can be retracted by the driver. The same also gets retracted automatically to prevent theft and protect pedestrians in the event of an accident.
The cup-holders are capable of keeping your drink cold or warm, as and when you want.
You get a 26-speaker sound system to listen to your music or can opt for wireless headphones to do the same.
5 zone climate control – this simply means that every passenger (including the driver) can have a different climate control as per their liking.
How I wish I could land one of these in my garage. How do you like the RR brand name?
As I have grown up, I have seen cars grow in character. Every single car has a different style and a different motive behind it. Some are designed to take the entire family for a comfortable ride and some are just made to make a fool out of every family member – the VW Beetle is a classic example. Apart from the league of mass-production cars, there is a league where only a small bunch of people reach – the likes of Raging Lambos, the fire-spitting Ferraris and the big-bulky no-nonsense Rolls Royces.
The double Rs on top of the patented, hand-crafted, radiator grill of the most reputed name in the automotive industry, moves me more than any other car in this world. Let us learn a little bit more about the King of the luxury car maker.
Rolls Royce Motors was created in 1973 during the de-merger of the Rolls Royce car business from the nationalised Rolls Royce Ltd. The de-merger mainly took place because the British government wanted to concentrate on jet engine manufacturing. In 1980, Vickers Plc (a company which was into Defence Engineering) acquired RR Motors. Imagine the kind of cars RR would have made if this collaboration wouldn't have gone down, would have definitely given the Hummer a competition. Just a thought! In 1998, Vickers Plc decided to sell RR Motors and the leading contender seemed to be BMW who already were doing great business with RR Motors, supplying ICEs (Internal Combustion Engines) for RR and Bentley cars. However, their final offer of 340 Million GBP was outgunned by the VW group with a 430 Million GBP offer.
In this deal, the VW group acquired the rights for the radiator grille shape and the Spirit of Ecstasy mascot. The RR brand name and logo however was being managed by the aero-engine maker Rolls Royce Plc and not Rolls Royce Motors. Later on, the aero-engine maker decided to sell the rights of the RR name and logo to BMW and not to VW simply because BMW shared joint business ventures with RR. How much did BMW pay for the rights? It was a mere 40 Million GBP – a bargain if one considers the brand value that RR had and still does now. Volkswagen Group had the rights to the mascot and grille but lacked rights to the Rolls-Royce name in order to build the cars, likewise BMW had the name but lacked rights to the grille and mascot.
In the end, BMW won the arm wrestling match by simply stating the fact that they could withdraw the engine supply with a notice of 12 months, which was an insufficient time for VW to make their own engine for the RR cars. VW, to keep their dignity alive, claimed it only wanted the Bentley marque anyway from the deal as Bentley sold nearly twice as much cars, when compared to RR.
Starting January 1st 2003, only BMW would be able to name cars as Rolls Royce and the VW group former Rolls Royce/Bentley division had the rights to built Bentley cars.
Ok I admit the history lesson was a tad too long. But to explain why the cars made by RR move me from within more than any other is based on the way they make their cars. Some features that you can find on today's Phantom...
The customer gets to choose from 44000 body colours for the car and choose any leather colour for the interior trim.
Thanks to advanced sound insulation and the refinement of the engine, you cannot make out how fast the car is going, apart from looking at the speedo or at the scenery outside moving quickly.
The 'RR' logos on each of the wheel hubs are independent bezels in order to always remain upright while the wheel is rotating.
The Spirit of Ecstasy marque is made of solid silver and at a touch of a button can be retracted by the driver. The same also gets retracted automatically to prevent theft and protect pedestrians in the event of an accident.
The cup-holders are capable of keeping your drink cold or warm, as and when you want.
You get a 26-speaker sound system to listen to your music or can opt for wireless headphones to do the same.
5 zone climate control – this simply means that every passenger (including the driver) can have a different climate control as per their liking.
How I wish I could land one of these in my garage. How do you like the RR brand name?
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