Rolls-Royce boss is burnishing a legend at electrifying pace

It is a truly exciting time for RollsRoyce Motor Cars and its veteran CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös. The brave Anglophile German entrusted with a treasure trove of British motoring crown jewels has just announced record sales and profits for the luxury car maker. The name alone is synonymous with excellence that goes far beyond cars.

The historic financial performance, now spilling over into German parent company BMW, comes at a critical time. Müller-Ötvös launches RollsRoyce’s first-ever production electric car: the sporty Specter fast-back. Deliveries will start later this year.

It is arguably the most important vehicle in the company’s history since the legendary Silver Ghost, whose early endurance performance propelled the 119-year-old company to the pinnacle of automotive performance. Specter marks the first step in an equally important transformation that will see Rolls-Royce, whose cars still sport the famous flying Spirit of Ecstasy on their prows, adapt to the Spirit of Electricity. By the end of 2030, all new Rolls-Royce models will be purely electric.

Müller-Ötvös has been CEO for 13 years and his contract has been extended beyond the age of 60, when board members of parent group BMW are normally required to resign.

The 62-year-old hails Rolls-Royce’s performance last year as ‘a great British success story’ and believes 2023 will also prove to be a strong year. But he emphasizes: “Sales is not our only measure of success: we are not a volume manufacturer and never will be.”

He has blossomed into a “dream job” and is still pinching himself, he admits. After university and compulsory military service, he joined the BMW Group in 1989, where he held progressively senior positions in marketing, strategic planning and product management, including for Mini, before being appointed to lead Rolls-Royce Motor Cars in 2010 .

BMW took control of Rolls-Royce in 1998 after an epic battle with Volkswagen. In the aftermath, Volkswagen seized Bentley and the Crewe factory it had shared with Rolls-Royce. BMW set up its new purchase with a boutique facility in Goodwood, near Chichester, West Sussex – this month it celebrates its 20th anniversary.

Both he and BMW are privileged ‘stewards’ of the brand founded in Manchester’s Midland Hotel in 1904 by Charles Rolls and engineering genius Sir Henry Royce with, in his view, an almost sacred duty of care.

Müller-Ötvös hopes his own lasting legacy will be the rejuvenation of the Rolls-Royce brand to attract younger, wealthier customers: “We’ve been modernizing it for the past 13 years.” So much so that the average age of Rolls-Royce buyers fell from 57 to 43 during his tenure – ‘now even younger than Mini’.

Future-proofing the brand by becoming the first super-luxury brand to launch an electric car was another milestone, along with the “once unthinkable” move to produce a Rolls-Royce SUV, the Cullinan, he says.

The SUV accounts for 50 percent of sales, well ahead of the Ghost at 30 percent. Pre-orders for the new electric Spectre, priced from around £350,000, against £500,000 with bespoke extras, have also surpassed ambitious expectations ahead of first deliveries from this autumn, he said. =

Keeping up with the times clearly works so far. Overall, Rolls-Royce celebrated its best-ever sales of 6,021 cars in 2022, up 8 percent or 435 cars from the previous record of 5,586 in 2021. It is the first time sales have surpassed 6,000 in a single year time period.

Super-wealthy customers who have commissioned one-off custom and highly personalized luxury cars have driven sales and profitability. Bespoke commissions included the second of a unique series of three ‘Boat Tail’ convertibles, each of which is said to have cost an eye-watering £20 million.

‘Black Badge’ model variants – described by Rolls-Royce as its ‘more rebellious alter ego’ – have also experienced ‘extraordinary growth’. The Middle East, which accounts for 10 percent of sales, is particularly strong for ‘high bespoke’ one-off commissions, so Rolls-Royce has opened its first ‘private office’ outside Goodwood for discreet VIP customer consultations.

More will follow worldwide. Rolls-Royce’s largest market, America, accounted for 30 percent of sales last year, China for 25 percent and Europe for 20 percent.

Rolls-Royce does not publish detailed accounts separately from its German parent company BMW. But industry experts think the company is neck and neck with Italy’s Ferrari as the most profitable car company in the world, with an estimated return of 50 percent. The company has a ‘relentless focus’ on profit, Müller-Ötvös will only say. “Don’t worry, BMW in Munich is very happy with our performance. We will certainly give them a record result this year.’

He says this means Rolls-Royce doesn’t need handouts from its parent company. All investments in Rolls-Royce are from self-generated money and there is ‘no appetite’ for a stock exchange listing. Passionate, serious and with a keen eye for detail, Müller-Ötvös also displays a waspish sense of humour, honed by his exposure to mad Brits.

‘I love it here. I will never completely leave the UK. I will always come back with lots of good memories,” he says, looking back on his career at BMW helping Mini recover and deal with Land Rover when BMW owned the Rover Group. He stresses that success would not have been possible without the “extraordinary” 2,500-strong Goodwood employees who hand-build the high-tech luxury vehicles, recently bolstered by 250 new jobs.

Midas touch: Rolls-Royce’s new electric Specter marks the first step in a major transformation

When it comes to contrasting Anglo-German approaches to challenges, he says the British are excellent at thinking and adapting, but aren’t the best planners. Germans, on the other hand, plan for every possibility and often to excess, but can be totally thrown off the field if someone unexpectedly throws a spanner in the works.

“I witness this very often. What I love about all our British colleagues here, especially our craftsmen, is that they are perfect when it comes to sudden problems that come up. They can solve things very quickly in an unconventional way,” he says.

He adds: ‘I think that kind of combination – of typical German engineering to perfection and the skills of British craftsmen here in the UK – is a perfect combination that makes Rolls-Royce so strong.’

I experienced Rolls-Royce’s remarkable transformation with Müller-Ötvös up close and even flew with him in a compact executive jet to the remote Swedish community of Arjeplog on the edge of the frozen Arctic Circle for an exclusive first ride on ice and snow in the passenger seat of a Specter prototype during cold weather testing. Soon I will go with him again to pilot the Specter myself.

Time will prove that the electric evolution, he says, was ‘definitely the right decision and that electric is the perfect propulsion for a Rolls-Royce’.

He admits, “I do pinch myself. It is an honor to work for the Rolls-Royce Motor Company. I also want to make our founding fathers proud: Sir Henry Royce and Charles Rolls. I’d like to think they approve.’