Which company owns Rolls-Royce Motor Cars?

BMW owns Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. More precisely, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited has operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of BMW AG since 2003, producing Rolls-Royce-branded automobiles.

The ownership story is complicated by the 1998 sale of the former Rolls-Royce Motors business to Volkswagen Group. Volkswagen obtained the Crewe factory, existing vehicle designs and Bentley, while BMW secured the rights to use the Rolls-Royce name and logo on cars. The two companies reached an arrangement that divided the marque's assets.

BMW established a new Rolls-Royce Motor Cars company and built a new manufacturing plant at Goodwood in West Sussex. The first new-generation model, the Phantom, entered production there in 2003. Volkswagen's former operation at Crewe became Bentley Motors, so it no longer builds modern Rolls-Royce cars.

A common mix-up is confusing Rolls-Royce Motor Cars with Rolls-Royce Holdings, the separate aerospace and engineering group. BMW owns the automotive company, not the aircraft-engine business.