WEBVTT - All Things Rolls-Royce: Bespoke Creations, New NYC Office 0:00:02.600 --> 0:00:06.960 Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:11.640 I'm Matt Miller and I'm Hannah Elliott and this is 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:12.720 Hot Pursuit. 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:24.280 And we have a very special guest today who you booked. 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:27.920 Thank you very much, the new CEO of Rolls Royce. 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:29.960 I'm excited. 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:33.760 I'm very excited. I'm really excited. I mean, the outgoing CEO, 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:36.800 Tryst Mueller Otfest was one of my favorite CEOs, and 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:39.440 I mean I drove my first ghost with him ten 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:41.760 years ago and he. 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:43.280 Was an iconic class for sure. 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:46.760 Yeah, so it'll be interesting to see how Chris Brownridge 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:51.240 is going to follow up in those gigantic footsteps. But also, 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:52.640 you are in Zurich. 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:57.520 I'm in I'm reporting live and in living color from Zurich, Switzerland. 0:00:57.960 --> 0:00:59.600 Tell us about the car that you're there to drive, 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:00.000 can you tell? 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:04.320 Yeah, well, I can't tell you about driving impressions because 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:07.199 that's under embargo. But I came to Switzerland to drive 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:11.720 the new Bentley Continental GT and that is the V 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:16.199 eight hybrid version. It's the first hybrid Continental that they've made. 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:21.400 So I spent Saturday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday in onder Mott, 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:24.680 which is an hour and a half from Zurich up 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:27.520 in the mountains, driving all of those great passes that 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:30.320 we've seen in you know, the James Bond movies and 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:33.920 all of those iconic shots. So I was driving that 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:38.880 V eight hybrid. It's got about seven hundred and seventy horsepower, 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:41.520 give or take two hundred and eight miles. How much 0:01:41.520 --> 0:01:48.080 horsepower seven and seventy one gps louise urhp PHP. Yeah, 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:50.840 so do the conversion. I'm always really bad at the conversion. 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:52.440 But I don't care. It's a gigantic number. 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:56.320 I mean, it's a big stomper and the great thing 0:01:56.360 --> 0:01:59.120 about it without talking about how it drives yet, because 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:02.720 I'm not allowed, you can't tell that it's different from 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:06.400 the previous versions. Because the easiest way to tell is 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:09.799 the headlights now have this like they're calling it an eyelash. 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:12.800 It's like a straight line that goes through the front 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:17.040 headlights of it's like a light band, and it does 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:20.919 look like an eyelash. It's almost feeline. And I'm a fan. 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:23.880 I think it looks cool. I always like when companies 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:27.520 give us something new that we can sort of easily see, 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:32.560 oh this is the new thing, and you know, yeah, 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:36.320 it's cool. I'm excited. I drove the first edition. There's 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:40.359 sort of signature first edition and like colate gray. It's 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:43.760 like la a very cool not a darker than a 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:47.160 battleship gray, but very cool stort of Matt gray color. 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:52.320 So so just as an aside, it doesn't really matter, 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:56.480 but BHP is break horsepower, and in order to convert 0:02:56.680 --> 0:03:00.840 break horse power to like American horsepower, you have to 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:03.560 multiply break horse power by a zero point nine to 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:08.840 eight six three. So basically it is ninety eight point 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:12.240 sixty three percent. A break horse power is ninety eight 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:15.160 point sixty three percent of a regular horse power. 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:18.440 It's like almost one to one, but it's exactly. 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:20.680 So seven hundred and seventy one break horse power is 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:23.640 seven hundred and sixty horse power. Obviously, thank you. 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:25.960 Yeah, that's good. Well, I mean this is good. We 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:27.680 want to be sure to get our facts correct, so 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:31.520 that's great. Zero to sixty is three point one seconds. 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:35.480 I can share that, and yeah, the review will be 0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:37.360 out first week in October. 0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:41.400 So the torque number is always for me more exciting 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:46.760 because I like twist and in a car like this, 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:50.880 because it's not only a big inch V eight but 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:53.960 also has an electric component. It probably has massive amounts 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:55.360 of torque. 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:58.400 I think, if I'm remembering right, it's seven hundred and 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:04.360 thirty eight pound feet of torks, so that that'll do it. Yeah. 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:07.160 The other thing that's really interesting about this time right 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.000 now at Bentley is Bentley also has a new CEO, 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:13.960 Frank Wallacer. I think we've talked about this briefly before. 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:17.240 Frank was the head of motorsports at Porsche for a 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:22.080 long time, so you know they I think, really it's 0:04:22.200 --> 0:04:26.039 obvious that Bentley is bringing somebody in who can give 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:28.560 a little shot of adrenaline to the brand. You know, 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:33.240 someone who's been in motorsport, who's used to developing real sporty, 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:36.240 sporty vehicles. So I think hopefully that's what we can 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:38.080 expect more of, and. 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:41.000 We can we can talk more about this when Chris 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:44.360 gets here. But I've always been fascinated by the relationship 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:47.960 between Rolls Royce and Bentley because for a long time 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:49.160 they were under the same. 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:52.839 Roof company basically. Yeah, and yeah. 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:55.359 You know, today I saw a guy on Fifth Avenue, 0:04:56.000 --> 0:04:59.560 some banker type of dude, getting out of a Continental 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:02.840 and he I was thinking, oh, that's a sporty your 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:04.920 guy then with one with who would drive a Rolls Royce, 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:08.640 and that's like the image they want to project, right, yeah. 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:10.640 I think so. I mean, it'll be interesting to talk 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:14.479 to Chris about that, but yeah, definitely to my mind. 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:19.320 You know, Rolls Royce is ultimate luxury very They've got 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:22.039 the magic carpet, right, it's all about smooth and silent, 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:26.240 and Bentley does have more of the sporty background. Of course, 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:30.200 remember the Bentley Blowers and the guy the Bentley Bentley 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:34.680 Boys racing one hundred years ago. So yeah, that it 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:36.880 seems like a natural fit at Bentley, and I think 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:39.240 Bentley can really occupy that space. They don't have to 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:43.039 fight Rolls Royce on trying to get superior luxury. Bentley 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:46.800 is a luxury brand, of course, but they can chip 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:51.440 away more I think in the sporty world, the aggressive world, 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:54.200 the world that might go up against Portsie or Aston 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:55.440 Martin or Ferrari. 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:59.479 So well, we'll talk about that with Chris. And then 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:03.000 speaking of Portia, I actually I wrote you a letter 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:06.800 about my time in the boxter in the Cayman. 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:09.040 Was Dear Hannah. 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:11.640 Well, no, I actually wrote you a whole letter. I 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:14.159 don't know why. The other day, I got home after 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:16.320 I had been driving it and we had just spoken, 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:19.680 and I thought, you know, I don't like, I don't 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:25.159 really write car reviews per se, and but I want 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:27.640 to tell Hannah all of this stuff. So I wrote 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:30.680 like dear Hannah on my phone, and I like, by 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:32.520 the time I was done, I was waiting in line 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:35.359 for like the seafood guy at the grocery store, and 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:37.720 I had written like a thousand words already, So I 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:41.839 was thinking, maybe I'll just shant Hanah this letter. Anyway, 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:45.400 I'm gonna definitely post that up somewhere because I have 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:48.159 so many thoughts about the Cayman and what it's like 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:49.640 now versus what it used to be. 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:54.080 Now you had the GTS, correct, yes, not four leaders 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:59.440 four which which might actually be the smarter buy for me. 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:01.200 It is right, I'm not a racetrack guy. 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:02.920 Yeah for most people. 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:05.520 Right. Well, I don't know my neighbor. You know, my 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:09.520 buddy Eric, who has the bmw M four GTS. He 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:13.240 likes a race car. He likes harsh suspension. You know, 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:16.040 he wants to feel every pebble on the. 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:19.160 Road every day, well for every day I took. 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:22.480 I took out his car over the weekend and drove 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:25.720 it for you know, forty five minutes, and that thing, 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:29.240 my pulse like doubled instantly. I was like sweating, but 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:31.240 I was also I was pushing. I was on the 0:07:31.360 --> 0:07:33.040 edge all the time. I was trying to break the 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:35.680 tires free in turns. I was definitely looking out for 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:39.960 cops like it. That car, that M four GTS, which 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:42.120 is now it's a thing of the past, but it's 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:43.640 like a race car and it makes you want to 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:48.280 drive super fast all the time, whereas the Cayman the 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:49.600 GTS four point zero. 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:49.960 It. 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:52.280 I like the sound when I put the gas down, 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:53.920 so I do go faster in it. But it's not 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:57.600 like I'm ripping it around corners hard, you know, right. 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:01.080 Right, It's it's livable, I guess is what you're you're saying. 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:03.240 Anyway, I was thinking I'm going to start a website. 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:07.840 I don't know if the domain is available Dearhannah dot com, 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:10.440 and then I'm just gonna start writing letters open letters 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:12.880 to you and put it on the website, which will be. 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:16.240 That's a really good idea. 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:18.880 Yeah. The other thing is you're in Zurich, and I 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:21.520 love Zurich. I spent many, you know, a decade of 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:24.080 my life living in German speaking countries, and I would 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:27.520 often go there for one reason or another. It's a 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:28.840 great town for shopping. 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:33.200 I love it. Oh, I have been shopping. I have been, 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:37.400 uh to the store that you recommended. 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:41.280 Is it vp e vmc vmc CMC. 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:45.840 So I went there this morning with my husband and 0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:51.360 we had a great time. We didn't buy anything. I 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:56.160 actually saw I in a very weird I don't know, 0:08:56.400 --> 0:08:58.800 it must be something I've been drinking. But I saw 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:01.679 some very cool men's lows loafers there that I really 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:02.400 wanted to get. 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:05.640 I know, they had a lot of engineering engineer's boots 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:06.760 and jeans. 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:09.120 I'm not into that. I want to I want this 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:15.439 pair of like perfectly brown, crushed up men's loafers. They 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:19.000 did not have my size, apparently they don't make women's sizes, 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:24.040 And and we did see some other cool things that 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:29.840 we didn't want to spend the money on. It's expensive. 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:35.520 Zurich's an expensive city, true, but very cool store and 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:39.200 very friendly. Uh. A lot of a lot of people 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:41.640 working in the shop. It was one of those situations 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:43.600 where you're you're kind of the only one in there, 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:46.440 and they're about twenty staff who are just kind of 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:47.000 watching you. 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:49.079 And were they all dressed up in there, because it's 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:51.640 kind of costume ish, you know, if they're wearing all 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:52.520 that style. 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:55.520 I mean, it's more American than American, which is it's 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:57.839 really funny because you know, you're walking around this europe 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:00.360 this amazing European city, and then you go to the 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:03.280 store and it's like it's more American than American. It's 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:07.320 like Rob Lauren meets you know, Philson meets red Wing 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:12.439 meets car cool. Very cool. Yeah, but I did buy 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:15.240 some boots at another shop, which was great, and a 0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:19.360 few other little things. I really like it here. It's cool. 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:19.920 It's cool. 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:23.680 I'm a big fan. Also, by the way, the top 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:26.920 income tax rate is fifteen percent. That's the most the 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:30.360 government will take from your income is fifteen percent, which 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:33.240 to me, that seems like a very fair amount. 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:36.680 You know, yeah, well that could actually work because I've 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:41.040 been told that apartment prices are pretty high here, so 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:43.800 you know, I if I know that the tax, the tax, 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:46.760 I may save money on the tax side of things. 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:50.760 No, you won't because you're American, So unlike other countries, 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:54.400 we America will tax you no matter where you earn 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:57.199 your money. So they're following you and they're going to 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:00.880 get their share. So whatever, you know, whatever amount is 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:03.160 above and beyond that fifteen percent that you owe to 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:04.840 the US, you still have to pay to the US. 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:07.160 Yeah really, yeah? Is that how it was when you 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:07.920 lived over here? 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:11.319 Well, I lived in Germany, so the German tax rate 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:14.920 is even higher than the American tax rate, although you 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:17.680 get services for it in Germany, and so I didn't 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:20.200 have to end up paying any US income tax because 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:21.400 of the double taxation treaty. 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:23.880 But okay, well that's good. 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:28.160 It's still to me, it seems it seems unfair to 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:32.160 take forty percent of someone's income. But if you get 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:36.240 free healthcare and you have great job security and you 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:37.440 know childcare. 0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:41.640 Yeah, well everything's clean. Everything. I can't believe. You know, 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:45.000 all of the shops leave the watches and the jewels 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:50.120 in the window overnight, you know, no gates pulled down. 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:54.000 It's unbelievad. You would never see this even on rodeo drive. 0:11:54.040 --> 0:11:55.640 You know, they pull things out of the window and 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:58.839 they close the gates and it's there's none of that. 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:02.440 It's it's unblo It's like this little paradise. Yes, I 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:05.120 was already planning my escape, pulling the rip cord and 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:10.600 relocating to Zurich. But we also went to this that 0:12:10.760 --> 0:12:15.400 very cool bar cronin Hall. Was it? Which awesome? Now 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:17.959 I don't need to go again to the restaurant. We 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:21.000 ate dinner there and the food was not great, but 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:25.080 it's it's one hundred year old restaurant. Fun to see. 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:30.040 But the bar's cool, quiet, tiny, lots of woods, lots 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:33.080 of heavy green and leather, and it was cool. I 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:34.160 like it my kind of place. 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:37.120 That sounds awesome. What about cars? Have you seen any? 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:42.560 No? Not, have not seen. That's the one thing have 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:47.640 not seen. I saw one sort of late model Jag 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:52.199 from like two thousand. That's the oldest car I've seen. 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:57.880 I saw one SOB nine hundred and literally nothing else. 0:12:58.760 --> 0:12:59.840 Uh there I did see. 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:01.760 That's weird. 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:02.120 That's it. 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:05.960 I feel like, if it's a banking it's a banking capital. 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:08.719 Like Europeans, how they. 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:09.720 Spend their money? 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:13.400 Yeah, maybe they take a lot of public transportation. 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:16.960 I also know some a lot of these European cities 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:21.360 have regulations about bringing you know, historic cars into city 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:24.480 limits because of the emissions. So it may be that 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:27.720 they aren't allowed, which is too bad because there's there 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:30.640 is nary a one I've I've walked around this town 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:32.000 for three days and seen nothing. 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:35.080 Maybe they keep them in Germany because the other thing 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:38.280 that Switzerland has is a speed limit. I don't think 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:39.800 you're allowed to go faster than one hundred and thirty 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:42.120 kilometers an hour on any of their highways, and of 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:44.440 course as soon as it cross the border to the audience, 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:45.120 and you can do that. 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:49.520 On the Bentley Drive, I was warned repeatedly to be 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:53.319 careful about speeding and the speed cameras, and I mean 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:56.600 really the road determined your speed anyway, because those roads 0:13:56.600 --> 0:14:00.960 are so tightly wound you never really end up going fast. 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:03.400 But yeah, pretty cool. 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:09.080 All right, Well, I see Chris Brownbridge and his entrun 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:12.480 really sam approaching, Yes, ideal? So all right, I'll go 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:15.800 bring them into the studio and then we'll interview Chris. 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:19.080 Why don't we start with just your background? How did 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:22.080 you get into this, how did you grow up? What 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:24.400 drives you to be in this world? 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:28.040 Well, if I think if you'd asked anyone who knows 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:30.600 me from being a child, what would he do when 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:33.800 he's older. I think the word car would have featured. 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:36.880 I was always fascinated by things with four wheels. There 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:40.960 are lots of photographs of me in my little Doune 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:44.440 buggy or at car museums. And as a child, I 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:47.640 grew up in Hong Kong and I remember just seeing 0:14:47.920 --> 0:14:51.120 the Rolls Royces there this is in the nineteen seventies 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:56.040 and eighties, and just being completely amazed by them. So 0:14:56.480 --> 0:15:00.680 I was fascinated by all things automotive, and I remember 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:03.480 reading every car magazine because of course in those days 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:06.480 there was no internet, so you got that week's magazine, 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:09.720 a motor or autocar or car magazine to find out 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:12.680 about what was happening. And I loved it. I always 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:17.720 excited me. But I went to college and I studied economics, 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:20.520 and when I left, I worked on a grad scheme 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:24.600 for Rover Landrover Group, and I was based in Oxford, 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:28.520 and it kind of that's where it started. So it's 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:29.440 been an amazing journey. 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:30.800 You went to Oxford, now I was. 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:33.360 I went to Exeter at university, but my first job 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:36.120 was in Oxford where the where the mini is built today, 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:40.000 and that was in the early nineties and I remember 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:43.200 walking through the plant and just loving it. I've always 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:48.800 had a fascination with manufacturing and seeing how cars are 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:51.520 built because it's like ballet. It's like mechanical ballet, and 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:55.000 I find the whole logistics side of it fascinating. So 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:58.680 for me to do what I'm doing now is really 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:02.560 it's a great responsibility, but it's also a fascination for me. 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:03.880 It's a genuine thrill. 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:07.880 That's really cool to hear you describe something in the 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:10.960 car world or the car world as mechanical ballet. I 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:14.600 have never heard that expression, but it does make sense. 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:16.680 I can see that, Yeah, it's. 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:20.880 And this is looking at manufacturing in Oxford and so 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:24.040 I've been in automotive now for thirty years and when 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:27.800 I came to Goodwood, where the home of Rolls Rice is, 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:32.120 it's completely different how they make the Moto cast there. 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:33.440 It's a different sort of ballet. 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:34.400 It's more dance. 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:38.680 It's a different sort of dance. It's real craftsmanship. I 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:43.640 was genuinely surprised in a very positive way about how 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:49.280 much artistry and craftsmanship there is there, and that is 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:51.480 one of my missions at Rolls Rice is to really 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:54.440 show the talent of our people and the story of 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:57.240 what really happens. I mean, many of our clients understand it, 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:00.280 but I think there are many clients who may have 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:01.800 seen it, and I think that's a real shame. 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:04.840 I was actually just going over some video of you know, 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:07.720 Rolls Royce production and he was like, oh, I want 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:11.160 to do this, you know, piece of a woman who's 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:14.840 stitching the Starry Night headliner, and I was thinking, that's 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:18.920 something you don't You wouldn't see it any other auto manufacturer, 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:21.600 even the high end ones just won't have that much 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:23.640 hand work being done. 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:26.920 No, I think what you see in Goodwood is special. 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:31.320 There are genuine artists and crafts people at work. Just 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:34.639 as a simple example, when you look at a manufacturing facility, 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:39.160 the line would move every thirty seconds and the tasks 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:42.000 performed are quite repetitive, and Rolls Rice it's more like 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:44.800 thirty five minutes, and everyone who's working there has to 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:47.160 be able to do thirty five minutes worth of work 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:49.480 on everything that we make. So it takes such a 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:53.280 long time to train people to stay at Rolls Rice 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:55.480 and to be able to perform what they do but 0:17:55.600 --> 0:18:00.000 things like the Starlight headliner, which are handmade, are quite remarkable. 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:02.560 But there are so many stories like that, and that 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:05.760 was one of the great thrills or journey of discovery 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:08.199 that I had when I started just finding out about 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:09.280 what really happens. 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:13.479 It's interesting to me because when we talk to you, 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:16.479 and we talked to people at the factory, there really 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:20.399 is a genuine sense of pride in the craftsmanship. And 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:22.639 you know, there are multiple generations of people who have 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:26.280 worked with the company doing these really old world trades 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:30.439 and handcrafts, and in a way, it's there's a lot 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:34.280 of humble dignity to it, which is different than the 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:37.080 perception that people might have of Rolls Royce, which is, 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:42.840 you know, very expensive, very ostentatious, very just to top 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:45.560 of the line. You know, it's the Rolls Royce of whatever. 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:49.119 So when you come into the company, obviously you've been 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:52.240 at BMW for I think thirty years, how are you 0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:55.240 seeing that balance between what you know is true within 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:58.960 the company of this very humble dignity and the perception 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:04.480 which is that Rolls Royces are extremely expensive and unattainable. 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:09.359 I think the people that work at Rolls Royce have 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:12.359 a great passion because they love what they do. Many 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:15.960 of their roles are unique and they are very passionate 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:20.240 about Rolls Royce and it is a great opportunity to 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:22.800 have a role. Whatever you do as part of Rolls Royce, 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:25.920 your role is to deliver perfection and of course that's 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:28.560 something you strive for every day. And I'll give you 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:33.320 an example of how committed our employees are. The week 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:37.520 before last I was really privileged to hand over awards 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:41.120 to different employees for coming up with new ideas about 0:19:41.119 --> 0:19:46.040 how to make things better in our business. And last year, 0:19:46.040 --> 0:19:48.840 in the last twelve months, our employees of which we 0:19:48.880 --> 0:19:52.960 have twenty six hundred, came up with six thousand ideas 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:56.240 about how we could improve how we produce our motor cars. 0:19:56.400 --> 0:19:58.880 And that's quite incredible. That shows that the one they're 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:03.320 fascinated by it, passionate about it, and the ideas were 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:07.080 so varied, but they all showed one thing in common, 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:10.640 which is a passion to really excel at Rolls Royce. 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:12.720 And one of the things that last night I was 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:15.560 at an event with some of our clients and they 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:17.960 often come to the home of Rolls Royce and they 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:20.639 meet the people that make the motor cars, and that 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:23.719 gives our team such a thrill because they love to 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:27.760 see the appreciation of our clients. And I have to say, 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:30.879 coming to Rolls Royce, one of the outstanding aspects of 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:35.040 our business is that we strive to offer our clients 0:20:35.080 --> 0:20:38.199 the best possible experience and we interact with them daily, 0:20:38.680 --> 0:20:41.560 and that marks us out as real a house of 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:44.320 luxury in terms of our clients talk to us, they 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:46.280 talk directly to the people that make the cars, they 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:48.560 talk to me, they talk to the design team, and 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:52.240 that connection is something which our clients value greatly as well. 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:54.960 So not only do our employees enjoy it, but also 0:20:55.040 --> 0:20:57.119 it's something that our clients get an awful lot of 0:20:57.160 --> 0:20:57.920 pleasure from. Two. 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:01.120 It is just interesting though that I mean, it's another 0:21:01.160 --> 0:21:03.359 thing that separates I guess Rolls Royce employees from a 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:08.800 typical car manufacture employee because working at BMW, anyone, even 0:21:08.800 --> 0:21:12.240 someone who's working on a line, could afford like to 0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:17.000 buy an M three right whereas I don't think you 0:21:17.080 --> 0:21:19.479 even have a Rolls Royce or do you have one. 0:21:19.760 --> 0:21:23.440 I have the privilege of having a Rolls Royce to use. 0:21:23.440 --> 0:21:25.560 But you don't have your own you didn't like already 0:21:25.600 --> 0:21:28.520 have a ghost to extended wheelbase before they hire deal. 0:21:28.640 --> 0:21:31.520 No, that is something I would love to have and 0:21:31.840 --> 0:21:34.560 not but I understand the point that you're making. But 0:21:34.600 --> 0:21:37.480 everyone who works at Rolls Royce is contributing to delivering 0:21:37.520 --> 0:21:40.679 something quite extraordinary every day and that's where their pride 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:41.160 comes from. 0:21:41.680 --> 0:21:44.520