Rolls-Royce customers now spend an average of $500K per car originally appeared on Autoblog.
Increased Personalization Drives Up Prices
As one of the most storied names in automotive lore, Rolls-Royce exists firmly in the "if you have to ask, you probably can't afford it" category of car brands. But that high-dollar transaction price has also proved to be a moving target since BMW began exerting its influence in 2003. That's because the automaker has increasingly focused on bespoke builds, some of which revive the coachbuilding tradition of Rolls' early days.
"The cars are more personalized than ever, and some are even coachbuilt," Gerry Spahn, head of communications for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Americas, said in a press release recounting BMW's acquisition of the brand. "As a result, pricing has risen from less than $300,000 per car to more than $500,000 over the past decade."
Emphasis On Bespoke Builds
Rolls-Royce offers customers effectively limitless combinations of paint, trim, and interior materials, but it's now also emphasizing entirely bespoke builds, which "can command a retail price in the millions of dollars." Examples of those include a recently-completed trio of cars inspired by centuries-old Chinese murals and the Spectre Lunaflair, which features an elaborate one-off iridescent paint job.
Most of these builds are based on regular-production Rolls models, but the automaker has also dabbled in coachbuilding with the dramatic Boat Tail that first appeared at Villa d'Este in 2021, as well as the four-car Droptail series. Special projects like this are practically obligatory for a high-end automaker these days, as the work of Bentley's Mulliner division and Porsche's Sonderwunsch program show.
Luxury Success Story
BMW sought to buy Rolls-Royce (as well as Bentley) from then-owner Vickers in the early 1990s, and even supplied V12 engines for the Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph and Bentley Arnage sedans that debuted in 1998. But that same year Vickers sold Rolls and Bentley to the Volkswagen Group. BMW was able to acquire the rights to the Rolls name and logo, allowing it to effectively set up a new incarnation of the brand.
A new Rolls-Royce Phantom debuted in 2003 as the first Rolls wholly designed under the German automaker's stewardship. Thing have been going well since then, as Rolls now has younger customers than companion brands BMW and Mini. The average age of a Rolls buyer is 43, down from 60 a decade and a half ago, according to Spahn. And Roll's customization capabilities will ensure more of those customers stick with the factory—rather than the aftermarket—when it comes to making their cars stand out.
Rolls-Royce customers now spend an average of $500K per car first appeared on Autoblog on Aug 12, 2025
This story was originally reported by Autoblog on Aug 12, 2025, where it first appeared.
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