British luxury carmaker Rolls-Royce announced on Wednesday a £300 million ($376 million) investment in expanding its Goodwood plant. The move is aimed at enhancing its focus on bespoke
cars for high-end clients, offering unique features such as gold sculptures and mother-of-pearl inlays.
Similar to other luxury automakers, Rolls-Royce has experienced growing demand from affluent customers seeking highly personalized, high-margin vehicle options.
In 2024 alone, Rolls-Royce’s artisans crafted intricate details, including solid 18-carat gold sculptures, embroideries with over 869,500 stitches, custom wood veneers made from 500 individually shaped pieces, and innovative holographic paint finishes.
The Goodwood plant expansion will primarily support the Bespoke services and Coachbuild program—an exclusive, invitation-only service allowing clients to design a completely original vehicle. This represents the company’s largest single investment since the plant’s opening in 2003. At that time, Goodwood employed 300 staff and produced just one car per day. Today, the facility has grown significantly, employing 2,500 people and producing 28 cars daily.
Despite a global decline in sales, Rolls-Royce reported it sold 5,712 cars in 2024, a decrease of over 5% compared to 6,032 cars sold in 2023. The company stated that the drop was anticipated due to the transition to new models. Photo by MrWalkr, Wikimedia commons.