How long does it take to build a Rolls-Royce?

Answer 1

Approximately three and a half months from order and deposit to delivery for a Phantom SWB and depending on production priorities. Unlike other custom hand built car brands, often called "bespoke cars," like Maybach or Bentley which can take longer to manufacture, The BMW owned Rolls Royce Motor Car, sold in the 2008 model year, as the Phantom SWB (Standard Wheelbase) or LWB (Long Wheelbase) Saloons, and the Phantom Fixed and Drop Head Coupes, take a little less time than other brands from order to finished hand assembly. Once you give the dealer the required $50,000 USD deposit, you have 48 hours to change your mind, otherwise the deposit is non-refundable. Depending on current orders, that is to say a sultan from an Emirate does not order 50 of them all at once for Rolls Royce to stop making your car, close the factory for an indefinite period, and exclusively build that Sultan's 50 Phantoms. This has really happened before, and still can. You'll then have to wait. This is in the contract you signed when you left your deposit. This is a reason why it could be the year 2008 and in the month of October you could be just taking delivery of your brand new 2007 Phantom--a drawback to new RR ownership . . . Sultan aside, usually within 72 hours after you sign the contract at the dealer and hand over the deposit, at the Goodwood Leicestershire UK factory, your Phantom actually will start to be hand assembled. When finished they like to keep the car at the plant for about a week for quality control to get the bugs out. If you opt to standard ship it overseas by boat (takes about 7-10 days to North America), the regional Rolls Royce Office in the country the dealer is located (ie Rolls Royce North America Port Elizabeth, NJ) will keep it for another week to make sure Goodwood stamped all the bugs out. This is why Rolls Royce never warranties their cars at mileage 0 and why a new Rolls Royce always has a few dozen miles on it before an owner takes delivery--the warranty starts when they hand you the keys to the car. Bespoke cars are hand made which allows for more error, so test driving is mandatory to ensure quality control. It is then the salesman's responsibility to ship your car from regional to the dealer. If the dealer is close to the regional they may actually drive your car themselves. For an extra charge you can have your Phantom put an a 747 jumbo cargo jet to be shipped anywhere you want in the world for your salesman to be there to hand you the key. . . Roll Royce usually delivers their products to the new owner's residence or work place with an on-site orientation on the car's features, and to my knowledge, rarely does a customer come into the dealer to take delivery, like most of us do when we buy a new car. A dealer on average sells one car per month, for the saloons (sedans) less than 1000 per year worldwide. I believe they're planning on making less than 500 coupes per year. This answer is predicated on the assumption one does not order a limited production run, or one of the coupes, or any special edition that will be rare (ie "Centenary Edition" or "Phantom Black"), or a car that has been "tricked out" with lots of bespoke options (not on the options list but put in the car anyway, like an exclusive color or wood veneer in places it normally isn't)--such cars take longer to delivery time, usually around 6 months, sometimes up to a year. The rarer the car the longer the time. Very good interesting question--pardon the long answer, but I do hope this answers it for you.