A record year for luxury car brands
Amid doom and gloom for the UK automotive industry, luxury brands Rolls-Royce Motors and Bentley posted record figures for 2022.
Good news has been thin on the ground for automotive production in the UK. Trade association SMMT has confirmed that car production declined by 9.8% in 2022 to 775,014 units, the lowest figure since 1956. The association said the main reasons for the low output were a “crippling global shortage of semiconductors”, significant structural changes, and the impact of supply chain pauses in China owing to covid-19 lockdowns there.
Soon after the release of these figures, Ford announced that that it intends to eliminate 3,800 jobs from its operation in Europe. Subject to consultation, this will include 2,800 jobs in product development and a further 1,000 administrative, marketing, sales and distribution roles. Around 2,300 of the job-losses will come in Germany, but 1,300 are in the UK, with 200 more in the rest of Europe.
Electric future
Ford said it was “completely reinventing” its brand in Europe and would invest in the design and development of electric passenger vehicles. It explained that this change would impact the organisational structure, talent, and skills it will need in Europe in future.
Luxury automotive brands Bentley Motors and Rolls-Royce Motors also have their eyes on an electric-vehicle future, but they have also worked hard this century to pass on older skills in handcraft and artisan production to new generations. The result is that 2022 was a year of record-high sales for both of them.
Momentous year
Rolls-Royce Motors delivered a total of 6,021 motor cars to clients in around 50 countries worldwide last year. This represents an increase of 8% on 2021 and its highest-ever annual sales figure. This is the first time in the company’s 118-year history that sales have exceeded 6,000 in a single 12-month period. Chief executive, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, called it “a momentous year for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars”.
Following this, fellow UK-based marque Bentley claimed a milestone of its own. In 2022, it sold 15,174 vehicles, an increase of 4% on the previous year and a record result. Commenting on this performance, chief executive, Adrian Hallmark, said: “The business overcame significant headwinds and demonstrated great resilience to deliver a third consecutive record sales year.”
What lies ahead
With regard to product innovation, both brands have spoken positively about their faith in future models that will take them into the electric vehicle market. Bentley said its 2022 success was driven by the introduction of a new hybrid model, the Flying Spur, part of a programme called Beyond100. Bentley is aiming for full electrification by 2030 and has said it will deliver five new electric models by then.
For its part, Rolls-Royce intends to start selling its first all-electric car, Spectre, this year. The vehicle, a two-door coupé, is still undergoing what it has called the most rigorous testing programme in its history, covering 2.5 million kilometres and counting.
Living traditions
It is fair to say that another important reason why the two luxury car companies are enjoying unparalleled success at the moment is because they also value the past. A long heritage and respect for traditions are of great importance across the board in the luxury market. Traditional skills are too. And Rolls-Royce and Bentley are using the skills and craftsmanship of their workforces to the full because the bespoke services they offer to their high-end buyers are more in demand than ever.
Noting that special commissions of this kind also reached record levels last year, Torsten Müller-Ötvös said putting these skills at the disposal of clients was part of the essence of Rolls-Royce. He said: “Our clients’ requests are becoming ever more imaginative and technically demanding, a challenge we enthusiastically embrace.” He explained that the creativity and quality of the work the company’s bespoke team achieves, including its work with leather for the vehicle interiors, means that, on average, clients are now content “to pay around half a million euros for their unique motor car”. Bentley says it, too, is seeing increasing demand for personalisation services.
Personal choices
Recent personalisation projects have included a special-edition of the Rolls-Royce convertible grand tourer model, Dawn. This car was the latest in a long list of special commissions for entrepreneur, dedicated car collector and long-standing customer of the brand, Michael Fux. This project involved creating leather and other materials in a colour named Fux Bright Yellow, which is “celebrated throughout every element of the motor car”.
At Bentley, the design team hit another milestone in 2022 by completing more than 500 unique projects for buyers of cars from its Mulliner collection. Mulliner is the world’s oldest coachbuilder and has helped create iconic Bentley models for 100 years. The 500th Mulliner commission last year was for a UK customer, one of the first of the marque’s Flying Spur S Hybrid cars to be personalised. In this case, the customer chose an exterior in a new shade of blue called Spark. To complement this, the Bentley team used leather in a colour it called Beluga on the inside, with flashes of leather in another shade, Klein blue to complete the effect.
New generation
Both manufacturers run their own apprenticeship programmes to be able to pass on skills and knowledge, including about leather and its use in automotive interiors, to the new generation of craftspeople who will help them keep growing. Bentley’s programme launched in 2014 and it has 37 places to fill this year to join the 4,000 people who already work at its headquarters in Crewe. Its board member for human resources, Dr Karen Lange, says: “Extraordinary people and products have always been at the heart of our business, and now is such an exciting time to join Bentley as we transform our entire operations in the coming years towards the electric era. Our new recruits will help shape the company, designing and creating the true epitome of sustainable luxury mobility.” Bentley currently has 621 people working in its interior trim department; eight of them are part of its apprenticeship and graduate programme.
Further south, at Goodwood, places on the Rolls-Royce apprenticeship programme are available across the business, including in the interior trim centre, the interior surface centre, the quality team and in sewing. Its programme also offers degree apprenticeships that run in partnership with nearby universities. Manager of bespoke and innovation, David Silk, has said that 95% of buyers of Rolls-Royce cars ask for at least some bespoke elements in the interior, keeping the 300 or so employees in its leather workshop busy.
To illustrate the importance of high-quality leather to these automotive companies, Bentley’s Continental GT speed uses leather from six whole bull hides. The leather covers 223 different parts in an interior that has an area of almost 30 square-metres. And at Rolls-Royce, the company’s Phantom cars, its largest model, each consume nine full-size hides’ worth of leather.
Bentley completed more than 500 unique projects for buyers of cars from its Mulliner collection last year. This one was number 500.
Credit: Bentley Motors
