The Spoken Word Is Applicable
Published: 5th January 2003
Chairman and Chief Executive, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd, Rolls-Royce Phantom unveiling
Goodwood, 3 January 2003
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Goodwood on this truly historic
day for Rolls-Royce.
I’m pleased to see so many of you here today, given that most of the world still appears to be on holiday!
I hope that you all had a relaxing and enjoyable break over Christmas and New Year.
We at Rolls-Royce are looking forward to our Christmas break in a couple of months time or so…
To say that we have been busy over the recent weeks, months – and indeed, years – would be something of an understatement.
As you all know, we are here today to celebrate not just the launch of a new motor car, but to unveil our new headquarters and manufacturing plant. Today also marks the official launch of our new company – Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd.
It was four and a half years ago, on 28 July 1998, that we acquired the rights to manufacture cars bearing the name Rolls-Royce. Since then we have built, from scratch, everything that you will see here today.
Four and a half years is an impressively short time to create a genuinely all-new car… but also establishing a new company and building these facilities in that same time span, is a fantastic achievement. It has been hard work, but there has been tremendous enthusiasm and excitement throughout the project – and that has driven us on.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in the project – both those directly employed by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and by our various partners. I am incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished. I am particularly pleased that Karl-Heinz Kalbfell is able to be with us today. He was the father of what became Project Rolls-Royce and without his belief and enthusiasm, we would not be here today.
So now we have a brand new company created to build a brand new Rolls-Royce motor car – but more than that…with the task to bring about a renaissance of the Rolls-Royce marque and to secure its future for the coming generations.
And what a proud heritage we are following, a heritage unrivalled in our business. It was in 1904, almost 100 years ago, that two extraordinary men joined forces and started a legend.
