The first thing you’ll notice about Rolls-Royce’s Goodwood facility is how clean the entire operation looks. Unlike American assembly plants, many of which are dark and covered with generations of industrial grime, Goodwood looks more like a hospital operating room than an auto assembly line.
You’ll probably get the impression that “good enough” is a phrase never spoken under the roof at Goodwood, either. Whether you’re talking about paint, woodwork or leather, the fit and finish is either perfect or it’s unacceptable. Maybe we’re just buying into the whole ultra-luxury hype, but we seriously doubt you’d ever see a Rolls-Royce line worker beating on a door with a mallet to make the panels align.
While this video shows the range-topping Phantom only, you get the feeling that even the more performance-oriented (and less costly) Ghost is built with comparable care. There are still plenty of cars we’d buy before adding a Rolls to the stable (after we hit the Mega-Millions jackpot, that is), but it’s impossible to view the video without gaining a better understand of why their cars are so stratospherically expensive. As with anything else in life, the highest quality always commands the highest price.
Since Rolls-Royce doesn’t want its video embedded, you’ll have to jump over to YouTube to take the plant tour. We say it’s worth the trip.
Kurt Ernst has been passionate about automobiles and driving nearly his entire life. His early years were shaped working in the family service station, though his real passion was auto racing. After graduating from the University of Colorado, Kurt spent a year club racing with the Sports Car Club of America, before focusing on a business career in marketing and project management. Later, his passion for writing and the automotive hobby found him freelancing for a variety of automotive news sites, including Automotive Addicts and Motor Authority, where his work was syndicated and appeared in several national publications. Recognized as an expert in the automotive field, Kurt joined Hemmings Motor News as an Associate Editor in 2013, and in the years since has progressed to Editor, Hemmings Daily; Managing Editor for Hemmings Motor News, Hemmings Classic Car, Hemmings Muscle Machines, and the Hemmings Daily; and now, Managing Editor, Hemmings Auctions. Kurt was instrumental in organizing the Hemmings Motor News Concours d’Elegance from 2013-2019, and has served as a judge at this event and The Vintage Racing Stable Concours d’Elegance. A Skip Barber Racing School graduate and prolific writer, Ernst is also skilled in copyediting, project management, brand development, and public relations.
