New Rolls-Royce CEO: "We have to be a stand-alone business"

Chris Brownridge, CEO of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars for the past nine months, grew up in Hong Kong during an era when the then British colony had even more Flying Ladies per square mile than London’s Park Lane. Despite this, until December last year Brownridge’s professional automotive connection was entirely with BMW’s more affordable brands. He started working with the German company straight from Exeter University in 1994, while it still owned Rover. Brownridge says his earliest job was dealing with Land Rover customers’ enquiries over the phone, which he describes without irony as “a great place to start”. Our hour-long meeting in Rolls-Royce’s sumptuous Goodwood headquarters has barely begun but already I’m forming an impression of the new CEO’s penchant for diplomacy. “When I was younger, I mostly admired Rolls-Royce from afar,” says Brownridge, when I ask about his previous connections with the marque. “There were some Rolls-Royces in my in-laws’ family, and my wife and I used a Jack Barclay demonstrator as our wedding car. But I wouldn’t say I had any close contact. However, as an avid car guy, I definitely admired what they did with Phantom when it reappeared in 2003. It seemed a perfect interpretation of what a Rolls-Royce should be.” People who know him say Brownridge’s rise through the BMW ranks was rapid and relentless but in conversation he rattles almost casually through a variety of increasingly senior roles in marketing, sales and comms, pausing only at product planning and strategy (“one of my favourite roles because I’ve always been fascinated by the cars”). One big success was his management of BMW’s sponsorship of the 2012 London Olympics. BMW promised the London authorities a car fleet that would average 120g/km of CO2 but it returned 116g/km, an impressive achievement. Brownridge’s reward came in the form of an opportunity to take charge of Mini in the UK and Ireland (“when I saw the strategy and future models, I had to do it”). Success with that led to his elevation to the CEO’s position at BMW UK in 2021. The opportunity to take the Rolls helm two years later wasn’t a total surprise. It can’t be at this high corporate level: succession planning is a huge part of life. In any case, the retirement of the long-standing and popular previous incumbent, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, had been well flagged. Still, when the call came, Brownridge was “absolutely thrilled”. He still regards the Goodwood factory as “perfect” for the marque and says moving to it has been the zenith of his career. The induction process was thorough, says Brownridge, but lessons came thick and fast: “One was the clear realisation that we make luxury goods, not just cars. From a distance this might sound highfalutin, but the truth is nobody needs a Rolls-Royce. Customers buy a complete luxury experience, not just the physical product, and they depend on us to provide it.” Another early lesson was discovering how independent Rolls-Royce is from the rest of BMW. “The group is very proud of us,” says Brownridge, “but it also recognises we have to be a stand-alone business. "I didn’t realise quite how independent we were until after I arrived. Munich wants to know what we do, like any good shareholder, but leaves operating the business to us.” The experience of the past nine months has turned Brownridge into the strongest possible advocate for Rolls-Royce’s skills as a producer of bespoke artworks on wheels. These days, resident Goodwood artisans can hand-make and hand-paint almost anything to customer order, he says. Demand for top-class individuality has exploded in the past five years but there is yet more potential, especially with ultra-exclusive, high-value models along the lines of the Phantom Scintilla, an extraordinarily highly specified flagship shown in Monterey earlier this year. Brownridge says that car, which took two years to develop and build, required 45 minutes’ explanation by his design teams, just so he could fully understand its details. He calls it “a vital benchmark of ideas and standards” that customers will use to shape their own ideas. Rolls-Royce plans a batch of 10 Scintillas, at a price that hasn’t yet been mentioned. The company recently announced it had won planning permission for the biggest and most expensive expansion at Goodwood since it opened. Much of the new factory space will be given over to ultra-lucrative special-build projects. It’s the future. In two stages, this could add 1000 people to a 2600-strong Goodwood workforce. Brownridge won’t reveal the size of the investment (he uses the word “substantial” a lot) but estimates it will inject £70 million into the local economy. Though he’s the centre of this interview, Brownridge doesn’t spend much time talking about himself. However, away from the job, he’s a true car enthusiast. He owns “a few things”, mentioning an Oselli-engined 1956 MGA and a Porsche ‘930’ 911 before deciding that’s enough about him. During our conversation he lets slip that he “likes F1”, always keeps an eye on the classifieds for interesting cars and goes to the annual Silverstone Classic when he’s able. Back on the Rolls-Royce brief, he acknowledges a mission to “define the next chapter” for the company but refuses for the moment to go into any detail. “There are lots of different projects and ideas,” he says. “I see some really great opportunities. But my job is to review them, and there’s much more of that to do.”

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New Rolls-Royce CEO: "We have to be a stand-alone business"

Nine months into the job, Chris Brownridge tells us what he’s learned and where the luxury marque is heading

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New Rolls-Royce CEO: "We have to be a stand-alone business"

Nine months into the job, Chris Brownridge tells us what he’s learned and where the luxury marque is heading

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