The automotive world – everything – is quickly veering towards luxury. From small (which no longer exist) to medium, it's all about raising the bar in terms of content, design and segments. Costs are skyrocketing, of course, but so are profits. It's a recipe as old as the world (big car big profit, small car small profit, the Americans have always said) but now the concept has expanded to all brands, even the generalist ones. “Big” obviously does not stand for “large”, or at least not only, but for “high level” and therefore, in this context, it is particularly interesting to understand what the world champion of this segment, Rolls Royce, is doing in awareness that his strategy sooner or later can also be copied by other manufacturers.
Well, the first thing that strikes you is that every car hand-built by Rolls-Royce has elements of Bespoke, the company's program that offers customization possibilities. The second is that the English house has made a total contribution to the UK economy of over 4 billion pounds from 2003 to today and over 500 million pounds per year. The third is that in 2023 Rolls created 180 new jobs at its Global Center of Luxury Manufacturing Excellence, while more than 130 people joined the company's Future Talent program in apprenticeship, internship or placement positions postgraduate.
All delivering 6,032 cars to customers, the highest number in the brand's 119-year history, despite the Wraith and Dawn exiting the scene last year.
But more than numbers, as we were saying, strategy matters here. And in a world where all manufacturers focus on model customization, with accessory packages or special requests, it is interesting to note how Rolls Royce has revolutionized this trend, using model customization as a kind of Trojan horse to create a bond unique and very close to customers. To clarify, they have set up the “Private Office” section which offers customers a unique “commissioning” experience (as they say). So much so that they have opened a dedicated office in Shanghai and Dubai, the first official locations outside of Goodwood, UK, to offer customers direct access to Rolls-Royce's designers and engineers.
In addition to this, the brand's Whispers app has seen a significant increase in engagement. Reserved exclusively for Goodwood-era Rolls-Royce customers, the digital club allows users to benefit from exclusive products and experiences selected from the brand's wider network within the luxury industry, further establishing the brand as a focal point in life of the owners.
Of course, it all stems from the Bespoke program which offers each customer the opportunity to express their personality through their car: an unprecedented experience that has been appreciated by every customer in 2023. It is this possibility to personalize every aspect of their car , in collaboration with the design and engineering specialists at the Home of Rolls-Royce, which is driving demand for Rolls-Royce products among its customers around the world. And when we talk about bespoke projects completed in 2023, we're talking about something unique, not just accessories. These included the Phantom Syntopia's hidden scent-releasing mechanism in the headrests, which incorporated technology originally developed for medical applications, while many Bespoke paint finishes made in 2023 required entirely new materials, techniques and formulations to create.
Special commissions also created new opportunities in the use of rare materials and intricate craft techniques. These included: mother-of-pearl inlays, perforated leathers, luminous animations of the interior of the roofs, and hand-painted artwork. In short, a world apart which however – on a smaller scale – will be taken up by many other car manufacturers: technology today makes it possible to produce one model different from another without necessarily using artisanal production.
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