Rolls-Royce wants ‘more special’ bespoke cars for wealthy buyers

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Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is going all-in on custom vehicles as the luxury carmaker sees growing interest in its bespoke offerings, according to CEO Chris Brownridge.
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The London-based company on Wednesday said it was investing £300 million ($370 million) in its Goodwood headquarters after recording its third-highest annual sales in 2024. The new investment is the company’s biggest at the site since it opened in 2003. At that time, it produced just a single vehicle per day and employed some 300 people. Now, it produces up to 28 vehicles per day and employs 2,500 people.
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The expansion will allow Rolls-Royce to expand its Bespoke and Coachbuild vehicle programs, the company said. Its Bespoke program allows buyers to customize their new car, while the invite-only Coachbuild program allows clients to make an “entirely original” car.
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In 2024, Rolls-Royce said it boosted “Bespoke content” per vehicle by an average of 10% year-over-year, marking a new record for the automaker. The Middle East was its biggest market for those cars, followed by North America and Europe.
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“What we’re seeing across every region of the world is decisive growth in demand from our clients to have a motor car that is more meaningful, Brownridge told CNBC on Wednesday. “That could be something as simple as having a coachline on the exterior of the car with a family crest all the way through to having your own Rolls-Royce that you design yourself.”
Rolls-Royce said some of the adornments it was commissioned for last year included solid 18-carat gold sculptures, 870,000 stitch-embroideries, almost holographic paint finishes, and “captivating” mother-of-pearl artwork. One bespoke car even featured a bird’s-eye panorama of London, composed of 8,372 laser-etched lights placed by hand.
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Last February, the company unveiled the Arcadia Droptail, one of four coachbuilt Droptails made and the first roadster body-style car in Rolls-Royce’s modern history. The $31 million car takes its name from the realm of Arcadia, which is depicted in ancient Greek myths as “Heaven on Earth,” and was purchased by an anonymous buyer at a private function in Singapore.
It took more than two years and five months to assemble the clock face on the Arcadia’s dashboard, which the company described as the most complex it had ever created. Workers spent 8,000 hours crafting the wood needed for its interior.
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The new investment in Goodwood is meant to help Rolls-Royce make better-specialized vehicles, although few will likely reach the level of prestige and work required to build the Arcadia.
“What we are not trying to do is make more Rolls-Royces,” Brownridge told CNBC (CMCSA-0.85% ) of the company’s plans. “What we are trying to do — and we will do — is make more special commissions and more remarkable motor cars.”