Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has announced that Torsten Müller-Ötvös will retire as its Chief Executive Officer, after 13 years at the wheel where sales soared and he rejuvenated the marque to reach the top of the luxury industry.
Müller-Ötvös is credited with transforming Rolls Royce from a conventional chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle for conservative 60-year-olds to a cool luxury model motored by 40-year-old ultra-high-net-worth individuals.
Rolls-Royce thanked Müller-Ötvös for steering the marque through “a renaissance, expanding both in model line and customers while not sacrificing exclusivity.” He will leave the company on November 30.
Müller-Ötvös, 63, joined Rolls-Royce Motor Cars in 2010, making him the company’s longest-serving Chief Executive since Claude Johnson, the man known as ‘the hyphen in Rolls-Royce’.
Under his leadership, the company has been transformed from a pinnacle automotive manufacturer to the position it is in today, at the very apex of the luxury industry, the company said in a press release.
Rolls-Royce is known for Bespoke products, strong client relations and solid business model. During Müller-Ötvös’ tenure, annual sales grew from around 1,000 in 2009 to more than 6,000 in 2022.
Moreover, every Rolls-Royce that now leaves the Home of Rolls-Royce is Bespoke – made to the precise wishes of each individual client. This is significant, as is the invention and development of Whispers – the digital Home of Rolls-Royce and the world’s most exclusive private members club.
In 2010, the average price of a Rolls-Royce was around 250,000 euros and the average client was aged 56. Today, the average price has doubled to around 500,000 euros and the average age of a Rolls-Royce client is just 43.
In 2017, the company launched the eighth generation of the flagship Phantom model, which brought subtle upgrades to meet customer demand.
This rejuvenation of the marque and its ongoing business success has resulted in a significant contribution to ‘UK plc’: the company now contributes over half a billion pounds to the UK economy every year and is one of the largest employers in West Sussex.
Rolls-Royce staff at Goodwood has grown from around 300 to more than 2,500, with over 50 nationalities represented.
He joined the BMW Group in 1989 and was reportedly “massively involved in branding discussions with Rover, when BMW acquired the Rover Group,” and also helped relaunch Mini.
German-born Müller-Ötvös will be succeeded by Chris Brownridge, currently Chief Executive Officer of BMW UK, a sales and marketing expert who has been with the BMW Group since 1995. He has sat on the Board of BMW UK since 2011, taking on a variety of roles including Sales Director BMW UK, BMW UK Marketing and MINI Regional Director for UK and Ireland, before becoming Chief Executive Officer BMW UK in 2021.
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