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New Rolls Plant Soon - 11/21/2000
New Rolls-Royce Manufacturing Plant and Head Office project ready for planning application.
Source: BMW Group
The BMW Group announced today that it is now ready to submit a planning application for a new manufacturing plant and head office for its Rolls-Royce project, to be built at Goodwood, near Chichester, West Sussex.
The £60 million development is part of a major investment in Rolls-Royce by the BMW Group, which acquired the rights to the car brand in 1998 and takes over full business and production responsibilities in 2003. The new manufacturing facilities will produce an entirely new Rolls-Royce luxury sedan and will directly employ about 350 people, producing 1,000 cars a year on average.
The Managing Director of the Rolls-Royce project, Karl-Heinz Kalbfell, said: ”We are on track and on time with all aspects of this exciting project to create the world´s most exclusive car manufacturing plant and to bring a new Rolls-Royce model to the market in 2003, which has been designed in the UK and will be built by craftspeople in the UK.”
The site of the new home of Rolls-Royce cars is adjacent to the Goodwood Estate and vehicle testing will be carried out on the near-by Motor Circuit. Because of the essentially hand-crafted nature of the production process, about five cars a day will be manufactured in surroundings reflecting the exclusivity and heritage of the UK motor industry’s most famous name. The site will be extensively landscaped and screened and will have minimal impact and match the topography of the land.
The location was chosen after a thorough examination of alternative UK sites and provides a unique combination of available specialist skills - many associated with the area’s bespoke boat-building industry - and excellent transport links to airports and seaports. Customers from all over the world will be pleased to find many opportunities for cultural entertainment, sight-seeing and sports activities, and last but not least the famous historic motoring events at Goodwood.
On an historical note, Sir Henry Royce, one of the two founders of Rolls-Royce, had his home in near-by West Wittering from 1917 until his death in 1933.
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