Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has confirmed development plans for its Goodwood headquarters and manufacturing facility. With the design for the first of a new model series approved, preparations are ongoing for enhanced production facilities to cope with unprecedented customer demand for the Phantom family of cars. The internal remodeling of the plant will begin in late 2007.
The expansion will to take place within the existing footprint of the building. The most visible change will be the addition of a second assembly line in 2008. The two lines will run simultaneously, one producing the existing Phantom models and the other building the new model series. A second working shift will be introduced in 2009.
Expansion of the workforce by several hundred at Goodwood has already begun and will continue over the next two years, predominantly in the production and manufacturing support areas of the business. This year sees the second annual intake of apprentices and the launch of a new graduate training scheme.
Phantom sales continue to increase, with quarterly figures showing that the company had retailed 22 per cent more cars by the end of September 2007 compared to the same period last year. Forward orders for the four-door models stretch well into 2008 with the Extended Wheelbase model accounting for a quarter of all Phantom four-door sales in 2007.
Sales growth is expected to continue with last week’s announcement that Rolls-Royce will build a series version of the two-door, four-seat experimental car, 101EX. Production of the new coupe is scheduled to begin next summer, with the launch later in 2008.
[Source: Rolls-Royce]
