The Home of Rolls-Royce is once again welcoming clients to collect their new motor car in person, following the reopening of the Goodwood-based Global Centre of Luxury Manufacturing Excellence.
The resumption of customer handovers restores a much-needed element of normality for the marque, which is currently operating a single manufacturing shift under rigorous health and hygiene regimes. Measures have been put in place across the Goodwood site, including additional security and handwashing facilities, one-way systems for foot traffic and modified seating arrangements in cafés and other public areas. All staff are issued with facemasks, which must be worn at all times in production areas.
In tandem with building ‘the best car in the world’, Rolls-Royce is also pleased to continue producing face visor and protective gown kits for frontline healthcare workers, as it has done since the earliest days of the pandemic response.
Having shut down operations voluntarily on 23 March 2020 to protect the workforce, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars became the first UK automotive manufacturer to restart production when it reopened on 4 May 2020. Client collections have resumed as lockdown restrictions are eased in the UK and elsewhere, and the number of patrons choosing to receive the keys to their new motor car in person at Goodwood is steadily returning.
Earlier this week a client took delivery of a magnificent new Rolls-Royce Wraith, finished in Red Velvet Sparkle with a Saddlery Tan and contrasting Anthracite interior – the first time this combination has been commissioned in a Wraith – together with matching steering-wheel and door umbrellas. The car also boasts carefully curated Bespoke Black Badge elements including 21” Carbon Alloy Composite Wheels, Black Badge Treadplates and Dark Chrome Spirit of Ecstasy and Grille.
The handover ceremony was conducted with the customary courtesies, sympathetically finessed where required, to comply with the marque’s strict hygiene and social distancing policies. During the visit, the client took the opportunity to meet associates from the production line and specialist departments responsible for hand-building his car – just some of the 90 pairs of hands typically involved in creating a Rolls-Royce.
Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, said, “It is a tremendous pleasure to welcome our discerning patrons to the Home of Rolls-Royce once again. That this has been possible so soon after reopening, while maintaining both our tradition of hospitality and our critical new operational measures, is a tribute to the conscientiousness and commitment of the entire Rolls-Royce family. We have worked incredibly hard to remain in touch with our customers during this crisis. The fact that so many are choosing to collect their new car in person, even in these circumstances, underlines how close and valuable these relationships have become.”
He added, “We have to accept that the comprehensive safety and hygiene measures we have put in place at the Home of Rolls-Royce will be our ‘new normal’ for some time to come. Handover ceremonies are a much-enjoyed moment of familiarity; they are both celebratory and uplifting, and remind us of our true purpose as a company. We look forward to many more such occasions in the weeks and months ahead.”