His Royal Highness The Duke of York yesterday visited the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars manufacturing plant and head office at Goodwood near Chichester, in his capacity as the UK Special Representative for Trade and Investment (UKTI) – the organisation which encourages the international trade of British goods and services.

The Duke of York arrived at the plant in a Rolls-Royce Phantom and was welcomed by Chairman and Chief Executive, Ian Robertson. He toured the plant to see how the Phantom was built and met a number of employees.

"It has been a great pleasure and an honour to welcome The Duke of York to the Rolls-Royce plant today," said Ian Robertson, during the visit. "We have been delighted by the success of our business, particularly as 90% of our production is sold internationally and so generates export revenue for 'UK plc'."

The facility at Goodwood was opened in January 2003, with the launch of the new Phantom, after Rolls-Royce became part of the BMW Group. The Phantom has since proved a great sales success, rapidly rising to market leadership, worldwide, within its sector.

North America accounts for around half of the worldwide demand, followed by the Middle East, the UK, Japan and China respectively. In 2005 almost 800 Phantoms were sold worldwide, which was the highest number of Rolls-Royces sold for 15 years.

The workforce at the Goodwood plant is highly skilled. Each Phantom is hand-built to meet specific customer requirements and this requires craftspeople who are able to adapt their skills across a wide range of tasks. Many have come from outside the automotive world; for example the furniture-making, yacht-building, musical instrument and shoe-making industries are all represented. The majority of the workforce is British, although there are 14 other nationalities on site. A total of 550 new jobs were provided with the establishment of the Rolls-Royce facilities.

Designed by British architect Sir Nicolas Grimshaw, the plant has an eight acre living roof, sown with sedum plants, which has become a significant habitat for bird life. The rest of the 42 acre site has been landscaped to allow it to blend into the beautiful South Downs countryside that surrounds it. Over 400,000 trees and shrubs have been planted. The site has won numerous architectural awards.

The second model to be launched at Goodwood was the Phantom with extended wheel base, in November 2005. A new convertible will follow in 2007.

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