Rolls-Royce Limited

Rolls-Royce Limited

Formerly	Rolls-Royce Limited (1906–71) Rolls-Royce (1971) Limited (1971–77) Rolls-Royce Limited (1977–87) Rolls-Royce plc (1987)
Company type	1906: private limited company 1907: public limited company 1971: state-owned company as Rolls-Royce (1971) Limited (re-named in 1977 to Rolls-Royce Limited, then re-named in 1986 to Rolls-Royce plc)
Industry	Automotive Manufacturing
Predecessor	Partnership of Rolls and Royce (1904–1906)
Founded	Manchester, United Kingdom 1906 (as a private company) 1971 (as a state-owned company)
Founders	Charles Rolls Henry Royce
Defunct	April 1987
Fate	1971: voluntary receivership (most assets were bought by the British government) State-owned company until: Motors sold to Vickers (1980) Aerospace sold to the public as Rolls-Royce plc (1987)
Successors	Automotive: Rolls-Royce Motors Aerospace: Rolls-Royce Holdings
Headquarters	Derby , United Kingdom
Key people	Claude Johnson Ernest Hives Adrian Lombard
Products	Automobiles Civil and military aero-engines Marine propulsion systems Power generation equipment
Subsidiaries	Significant subsidiaries 1931: Bentley Motors 1939: Park Ward 1959: H. J. Mulliner & Co. 1961: Mulliner Park Ward 1966: Bristol Aircraft Holdings –Bristol Aeroplane Company –Bristol Siddeley Engines 1973: Rolls-Royce Motors

Rolls-Royce Limited was a British luxury car and later an aero-engine manufacturing business established in 1904 in Manchester by the partnership of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Building on Royce's good reputation established with his cranes, they quickly developed a reputation for superior engineering by manufacturing the "best car in the world". The business was incorporated as "Rolls-Royce Limited" in 1906, and a new factory in Derby was opened in 1908. The First World War brought the company into manufacturing aero-engines. Joint development of jet engines began in 1940, and they entered production in 1944.^[1] Rolls-Royce has since built an enduring reputation for the development and manufacturing of engines for military and commercial aircraft.

In the late 1960s, Rolls-Royce was adversely affected by the mismanaged development of its advanced RB211 jet engine and consequent cost over-runs, though it ultimately proved a great success. In 1971, the owners were obliged to liquidate their business. The useful portions were bought by a new government-owned company named "Rolls-Royce (1971) Limited", which continued the core business but sold the holdings in British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) almost immediately and transferred ownership of the profitable but now financially insignificant car division to Rolls-Royce Motors Holdings Limited, which it sold to Vickers in 1980. Rolls-Royce obtained consent to drop the '1971' distinction from its company name in 1977, at which point it became known once again as "Rolls-Royce Limited".

The Rolls-Royce business remained nationalised until 1987 when, after having renamed the company to "Rolls-Royce plc", the British government sold it to the public in a share offering. Rolls-Royce plc still owns and operates Rolls-Royce's principal business, although, since 2003, it is technically a subsidiary of Rolls-Royce Holdings plc, a listed holding company.

A marketing survey in 1987 showed that only Coca-Cola was a more widely known brand than Rolls-Royce.^[2]