How BMW Won the Battle for Rolls-Royce and Reinvented the Phantom

How BMW Won the Battle for Rolls-Royce and Reinvented the Phantom

BMW’s road to owning Rolls-Royce began long before the first Phantom rolled out of Goodwood. In the early 1990s, the Munich automaker made an unsuccessful bid to buy stakes in both Rolls-Royce and Bentley. A decade later, they finally got their chance — but not without a complicated battle with Volkswagen. At first, VW ended up with the designs, the Spirit of Ecstasy emblem, and the famous Pantheon grille, while BMW only secured the Rolls-Royce …

Rolls-Royce - CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO | “Upper Echelon: BMW Group...

Woodcliff Lake, NJ - August 11, 2025... Of all the world’s automotive nameplates, none is more revered than that of Rolls-Royce. Since 1904, Rolls-Royce automobiles have occupied a class of their own where quality and elegance are concerned, and the Rolls-Royce name is virtually synonymous with luxury. For an automaker like BMW, a high-end marque like Rolls-Royce would constitute the perfect...