Few names in the world of luxury carry the weight and prestige of Rolls-Royce.
More than just an automotive marque, it represents the pinnacle of craftsmanship, bespoke elegance, and a legacy of excellence that has defined the brand for over a century. Now, under the leadership of CEO Chris Brownridge, Rolls-Royce continues to push boundaries, evolving with the demands of an ultra-discerning clientele while remaining steadfast in its commitment to unparalleled luxury.
Today, the brand’s approach to cultivating deep and lasting relationships with its clientele — many of whom expect not just a vehicle but a personal statement of refinement and individuality – is crucial to its existence. More than just buying a product, Rolls-Royce clients are buying into an exclusive family, where their every need can be met. In the Middle East, the future for Rolls-Royce is bright. From bespoke commissions tailored to the tastes of Gulf connoisseurs to the brand’s latest innovations, the brand continues to grow and goes above and beyond to impress its customers. As Rolls-Royce continues to redefine automotive luxury, we talk exclusively to CEO Chris Brownridge. After joining the brand in 2023, he has been tasked with continuing the success of the car manufacturer and expanding its opportunities and capabilities even further. In his first interview given to the region, we discuss what truly sets Rolls-Royce apart and the exciting potential of this luxury brand.
You joined the company in December 2023 – what is the vision and direction you have for Rolls-Royce moving forward?
Rolls-Royce is a true luxury house. It’s not just what we make but how we make it. The product is not just the motor car itself but also the experiences that we bring to our clients. What I see is a very successful business with a very exciting future. It’s in a great place today, and our biggest opportunity is to continue to create more value for our clients by meeting with them and delivering wonderful experiences for them, showing them what really goes into creating their masterpiece. Seeing the craftsmanship and artistry that goes into making every Rolls-Royce and the possibilities of what your Rolls-Royce could be elevates the experience to an unrivaled level. It’s about the whole journey and the co-creation of a motor car that makes Rolls-Royce stand out.
What I want to do is to bring that story to life and bring more of our clients closer to the company’s beating heart. Whether by them coming here, to the manufacture, or looking at how we work with the private offices that we have around the world. I think that is our biggest opportunity.
“Client” and “Experience” are two words we hear a lot at Rolls-Royce. How do you remain close to your clients?
Rolls-Royce stands out because of the special relation that we have with our clients. Every client that I’ve met since the first event that I attended, has told me in an unprovoked way, that they value the closeness to the business. I talk to our clients every day – on the phone, in person or through our digital platform “Whispers”; and that is very valuable to me because it helps me understand what they like, it helps me be better informed about what they see as the true definition of luxury, and it helps us make sure that we’re performing to the highest level. You’ll see the words “strive for perfection” written on our walls, and that means that you never get to perfection, but every day you push harder, and that’s what we do here. It’s something that you see in every part of our business. When our clients come here and see their Rolls-Royce being made, they value that, but they also like meeting the people that do it. And I think it’s those people-centric stories that increase value for our clients. Being close to them is very important, through the headquarters, our dealer partnerships and our private offices. What’s important is that we have a seamless relationship with our clients. We’re here to serve them and deliver a true luxury experience. The product is not just a car; it’s the whole Rolls-Royce experience.
When you’re a brand with such a legitimate history, how do you balance between guarding that heritage and being relevant for today’s consumer?
Rolls-Royce has 120 years of heritage, which is quite remarkable. In fact, this year we celebrate 100 years of Phantom. But it is a huge responsibility that everyone in this business carries because they are representing and being the faces of one of the most famous brands in the world.
How do we get that balance right? Well, first of all, we are informed by our past and the values of the past, and we interpret them for the future. And so, of course, that’s not about creating the same object over and over again; it’s about interpreting and projecting the brand into the future. And you can see how Rolls-Royce has evolved. 20 or 30 years ago, it was very different from how it is today. If you look at what we’re producing in the production line, each one is clearly a Rolls-Royce. So, there is a very clear DNA in terms of the product offer, but also the client experience. The other aspect of that is that we understand our clients. We interact with them directly, we listen to them, and we understand what they value in all the regions where we are present. This helps our creative teams here customize our design of the future.
We hear many luxury houses referring to themselves as “the Rolls-Royce of…” What does this mean to you?
Because of the remarkable heritage of Rolls-Royce, the brand name is also an adjective. In the Oxford English dictionary, it actually means “the very finest of”. That goes to show how strong the brand’s reputation is in every corner of the world. That sets an expectation because when a client is engaging with Rolls-Royce, their expectations are of the very highest standard, which is why we’re very informed by the goal of striving for perfection in everything we do. We are constantly pushing ourselves and asking how we can make everything more extraordinary for our clients. That’s not just about the experience but also about the car itself.
Tell us more about the private offices and how customers experience the journey through these.
When you visit one of our partners and sit at the atelier of their dealership, they have these beautiful environments where they can offer extraordinary client experiences to configure your Rolls-Royce. You already have the option of choosing from more than 44,000 different colors. So, the opportunities are seemingly endless, but sometimes our clients’ ambitions are even greater. Let’s be honest: they are not choosing a Rolls-Royce because they need to get somewhere – often, our clients will have access to a portfolio of motor cars – they are choosing Rolls-Royce because they want something remarkable or unique and something that’s a reflection of their success or a particular moment. So, a client may wish to use the motor car as a canvas to celebrate a specific topic. Our private office can unlock possibilities for our clients, allowing them to personalize. Our designers in the private offices know that the possibilities are endless, but they also meet the client, and their job is to take away the thoughts and wishes and bring them to life. There are many examples where clients have asked for something to celebrate a moment or signify something important to them, and the design team has worked to create something truly unique around that.
Examples include a client who had a love of floristry; they named their daughters after particular flowers, and we created a Rolls-Royce Phantom for them which had more than a million stitches depicting this beautiful image of roses on the doors of the car. We didn’t just do that. We also worked with a rose breeder to create a unique rose, which only grows at Goodwood, the home of Rolls-Royce. So, we bring to life lovely stories for our clients. That is how the private office has a role to play in elevating the customer experience and the creative process. The very pinnacle of that is us contacting our clients with ideas that we may have, and it’s always a two-way process. Our clients are given the opportunity to co-create with Rolls-Royce, and the result is a work of art.
Do you archive these kinds of stories and how they came to life?
Yes, and it’s fascinating. For some of our clients, we even create a perfect model car of their creation – it’s a whole experience. Another example was a gold motor car that we created, which was based on the 1937 model featured in the James Bond film “Goldfinger”. The attention to detail that went into making this car was incredible, but then, from this, our team will find other ways to express their creativity, and the overall result is a marvelous example of artistry. The client went on a journey, and we made the entire process personalized to him, meeting at secret locations, arranging for his family to come and release the car, and releasing the car on a certain date so the chassis number ended in “007”. And when we had a handover event for the car, we did it at Stoke Park, which is where the movie was filmed. There are many examples where the whole journey is part of the product, so it was an overall luxury experience for our client. And that is true luxury.
The people who are involved in making these things happen love it. It’s exciting to them because there are no limits to what we can do. So, not only does it create enormous value for our clients, but also for our employees. Our people are committed to the brand and need very skilled staff to create what we do. We have an apprentice scheme, and since that started in 2009, 70 per cent of people who were part of it are still working at Rolls-Royce. There is a real passion for what we do, and that’s what makes working here quite wonderful.
The Phantom is celebrating 100 years – how significant is this milestone, and what can you tell us about what is in the pipeline to commemorate this moment?
For Rolls-Royce to celebrate 100 years of the Phantom, it is an extremely important moment. Phantom is the pinnacle of Rolls-Royce, and it has a legacy that is unrivaled by any other motor car. One hundred years of this is a moment that we will celebrate, and you can imagine that our creative teams are pulling out all the stops to create the most wonderful celebration of this remarkable heritage. Sometimes at Rolls-Royce, we like to test ourselves. It will start with a creative idea that has the potential to really stretch and show off what we can do, and we do it because it’s exciting, but it also creates art pieces. And that’s all I can tell you for now!
Roll-Royce is one of the most prestigious established names in the world today – how do you challenge yourself as a brand to aim higher, and when is it enough?
Well, that’s easy – it’s never enough! Because if you strive for perfection, you never reach that, but if that’s your mantra, then you’re always challenging yourself. But I also think that has interesting cultural implications for an organization because if your mantra is to strive for perfection, what’s important is that you must always reflect on how you can do even better. That’s what’s important to me in this business. We strive to do better and also learn from things that perhaps we didn’t do so well. That’s a fascinating aspect of the role for me because it’s all about unlocking the possibilities of this organization and its people. I think you could be intimidated by the prospect of always striving for perfection, but in fact, it’s very exciting.
Tell us about the performance of Rolls-Royce in the Middle East, how important the region is to the brand and what’s in the pipeline.
It’s a thriving region; it’s so exciting and vibrant and it’s a very important region for us. Rolls-Royce is in a wonderful position in that it’s a super agile condition, and we are very successful in every corner of the world. And I think that’s key to our success because there will always be ups and downs in different parts of the world, and we are perfectly placed to respond to that. It’s important to remember that we only ever make something when someone has asked us to make it, so being agile is very important.
In terms of the Middle East, we have seen stable, consistent growth in the last year, and we expect that to continue. But what we will always do is only produce motor cars when people are asking for them, so I think it’s important that we get that balance right and we don’t try to push a particular region. I’ve just returned from the UAE, where I met our partners, who are confident about the future and extremely good at looking after their clients. They understand their clients, and they deliver extraordinary experiences for them.
You have vast experience in the industry – what is one thing that you haven’t seen done yet at Rolls-Royce that you would still aim to achieve?
That’s a great question! Rolls-Royce is a very successful business, and it’s been very well managed over the years. Coming in with fresh eyes, I still see significant opportunities. Since I started in my role, we have approved the investment to grow, and my strategy is to create the capacity to meet the growing demand that we see. It’s not about making more Rolls-Royce motor cars, because we are a true house of luxury. It’s about making more remarkable Rolls-Royce. What we would like to have here at Goodwood is more space and more capacity for the more complicated, bespoke projects. Since I started, we’ve opened two more private offices, and so we’re seeing more demand from our clients for these remarkable features and art in our motor cars.
Tell us about the shift towards women owning and driving a Rolls-Royce today.
What I can see today is that many of our clients are very successful women – in business or creative roles – and they find Rolls-Royce very appealing for the same reasons that anyone would. I think Rolls-Royce is equally appealing to men and women today.
What is a challenge that you find in relation to this business?
This business has opportunities rather than challenges. But the biggest opportunity that I can see is the most wonderful one. Often, brands use storytelling to embellish their brand. Rolls-Royce is in a very different place as we need to be able to tell stories to explain the substance of what we do, and so we don’t need to make stories up, we need to be able to articulate the truth. And I see a huge opportunity there. So, the challenge that I’ve set myself is to tell the story of Rolls-Royce and to bring our clients closer to the brand to show them what the possibilities are. I think this will create more value for them, but also do justice to the people who work here. So, the opportunity is simply revealing the truth, rather than making up stories about what we do.
They say there is strength and power in partnerships to what extent do you believe in this?
We have talked about the strengths of our brand, and I think it’s essential that at Rolls-Royce, we stand alone. Rolls-Royce is one of a kind. From time to time, we might work with a collaborator to inspire a particular creation, and there are examples of that, but ultimately, it is a Roll-Royce, but there are opportunities to collaborate, and I think this is something we do particularly well. But in terms of partnerships with brands, I think we tend to stand on our own, and I think with a brand with our reputation and heritage, we should keep it that way. That said, we are always very inquisitive about what other luxury brands are doing. We are always looking to learn and thinking about the next innovation for us.
What’s a life lesson you have learned that you will pass on?
I think it’s always been straightforward. I’m not interested in politics and for me, my goal in this organization is to make sure that I can unlock the potential of everyone who works here by making it a place where everyone can contribute their fullest input without fear of the consequences. That excites me as much as the wonderful things we make because it makes it a very empowering workplace.
What motto do you tell yourself every day?
I don’t really have a motto, but I have been very lucky that I have always enjoyed what I do in my roles, which have combined a passion with business, and to work at Rolls-Royce is the ultimate thrill. What I didn’t realize before I started here is how remarkable Rolls-Royce is, so it’s actually been a wonderful year for me.
Many years ago, we would have never expected Rolls-Royce to create an electric car as they did with Spectre. What is a dream that you would like to see come to life at Rolls-Royce?
I wouldn’t want to give too many secrets away! But I think what we have seen with Spectre is how our founders talked about electrification many years ago, and they said that the perfect Rolls-Royce would be silent, odour-free and devoid of any mechanical noise, and they were right! Spectre makes a wonderful Rolls-Royce, and many of our clients have told us that it is the most perfect Rolls-Royce. So what the future holds, I wouldn’t want to give away now, but what excites me is that, as technology changes, we will demonstrate here that we can master that technology to continue to deliver the best car in the world.
What would you like to tell our readers in the Middle East?
I want to share the excitement that we have for the future of Rolls-Royce. This business is really committed to delivering remarkable client experiences and creating the most fascinating motor cars. In the Middle East, we have some wonderful clients whom we are very close to, and we’re very proud of the relationships we have with them and also of the motor cars we have created for the region. It’s so inspiring to work with clients who are ambitious and have such creativity. There is so much ahead of us.
