One statement that we hear often goes something like, “Whenever you get frustrated with yourself remember that it takes 13 hours to build a Toyota and six months to build a Rolls-Royce.”

The implication is that if you want to achieve big goals and develop yourself in significant ways, it will take time.

It’s a good sentiment. The world would be a better place if we were all more patient, and it’s important to know how to be self-disciplined.

However, it also makes a lot of people wonder: how long does it really take to build a Rolls-Royce? Although we don’t have the same authority as Rolls-Royce headquarters in Goodwood, England to answer this, we do have some knowledge that people might be interested in hearing.

Why Does It Take So Long To Build a Rolls-Royce?

The short answer is that nearly every task is completed by hand. The one exception we can think of off the top of our heads is painting the exterior. For that operation, the mechanized skill of a robot is preferable because evenness is the goal.

The vast majority of tasks, however, from polishing the painted exterior, to buffing it, to inserting sound-deadening materials, to “marquetry,” the production and embellishment of all wooden trim, are human operations.

For each of these skills, the average length of time to become an expert is three years. That means that you would have to practice for about 1,000 days to at, say, inserting audio vents before you could become an expert.

How Long Does It Actually Take?

As with many questions, the answer is that it varies. This especially applies to Rolls-Royce because we are a brand that embraces a high-level of customization. We call this “bespoke.” The more bespoke options a customer selects, the longer it will take to produce the desired vehicle.

In general, the baseline for a Rolls-Royce model with a minimum of bespoke details is around three and a half months. Once you add 7-10 days for transatlantic shipping, another week for quality testing by the dealer, and a few days to transfer from the regional office to your home or office, you could be looking at four months.

The additional week for quality testing is in addition to a week of quality testing in Goodwood. Products that are built by hand have a variability that makes them desirable. This variability, however, can also allow for defects that are harder to detect.

If a robot makes a mistake, it will be present in the 10,000 products a robot touched. If a person makes a mistake, it might only be present in one product in 10,000. Rolls-Royce goes to great lengths to ensure that its vehicles are not only one of a kind—they must also be thoroughly guarded from any imperfections.

We hope this has been helpful. We also want to note that we welcome interested parties from all southern states. If you have an interest in Rolls-Royce and are in Tennessee, we would be delighted to get in touch with you.
How Long Does It Take To Build A Rolls-Royce? was last modified: December 12th, 2014 by Rolls-Royce Raleigh