The CEO of Rolls Royce says: “We are not the taste police” as customers order ever more extravagant cars

It may be difficult being a mainstream European car manufacturer, but it’s not so bad when you make so few cars that you can charge twice the MSRP price for a “bespoke” version. This is the world that Rolls-Royce wants to enter as the company focuses on extravagance. Can you have what you want? According to the new CEO, the answer is yes.

Today’s Morning Dump is all about size. Maybe it’s easier to make a few thousand very expensive than making money with small margins for a few hundred thousand cars. Just ask Stellantis. The board is coming to New York and CEO Carlos Tavares will present his plan to save the company and possibly his job.

Another way to make it easier to build cars is to wait for your neighbor to invade another country and take over a few car factories that were once run by Western automakers. It seems to be working for Chery.

Finally, legendary manager Ratan Tata has passed away, giving us an opportunity to review the extent of his achievements.

CEO of RR: As long as it’s safe, we’ll build it

Rolls-Royce has a relatively new CEO, Chris Brownridge, and a brand new, bespoke office in New York, so he’s out and about with the media. My favorite interview is probably the one from Germany Manager Magazinepartly just for this exchange:

Brownridge: Have you seen the Phantom Scintilla that we introduced at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance?

Interviewer: To be honest: no.

This colon is giving me life this morning.

And guess what? I have. As opposed to Manager Magazine I believe in doing hard work. Hit the ground. Pounding the pavement. If I have to eat two dozen oysters, drink a few glasses of champagne, and taste some bourbon bacon to understand the story, I’ll do it because I’m a damn professional!

The Scintilla is inspired by the Greek statue of Nike of Samothrace, which I also saw in the Louvre (brag). If I had the money, I would prefer a car inspired by the Venus Callipyge (IYKYK).

And they would, since there seems to be no real limit (other than safety) to what people can order:

Interviewer: But aren’t you walking a fine line here?

Brownridge: I don’t see any risk and we’re not the taste police. Every Rolls-Royce is individually tailored to the customer’s wishes. If you prefer a dark car with a subtle design, you can afford it.

If he says there’s no risk, it’s probably because he was interviewed CNBC:

Rolls-Royce calls its highest level of personalization the “Bespoke” program. Making a custom Rolls can add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the sticker price, which is just under $500,000 for a Rolls-Royce Phantom, bringing the total sales price of some cars to over $1 million.

The private office is reserved for the most complicated – and expensive – bespoke projects. It is not a car dealership and no real cars are on display. To get into the private office, customers press a black security screen outside an unmarked building and take a secure elevator to the top floor.

Like most European automakers, sales of BMW-owned Rolls-Royce are declining. It’s possible that it’s due to Chinese demand, although BMW hasn’t provided any data on the brand’s Chinese sales recently (at least I can’t find that data). Overall, Rolls-Royce’s global sales fell 16% in the third quarter.

The brand is apparently still quite profitable, which makes sense when you can make the cars it produces significantly more expensive. This is becoming a big trend in the automotive industry and I don’t hate it. A bunch of gray scooters doesn’t move me and it’s exciting to see what artisans can create with enough money and time.

The ethics of being a billionaire is a topic of conversation for a different kind of site, but if you have the money, at least do something fun with it.

You probably don’t want to be a Stellantis manager right now

I’m not allowed to do Stellantis-led TMD, at least for a few days, because the company has become something of a punching bag lately. So you get this as second History today. Look, David, I’m listening!

A Stellantis board meeting is being held in New York this week to discuss the company’s future, and it’s likely to be an important meeting as the company is in crisis and the board is already hinting that it is looking for a new CEO . That means CEO Carlos Tavares, pictured above, will have to explain what the company will do to get through this mess.

Accordingly BloombergThis means a restructuring of the management level:

Stellantis Chief Executive Officer Carlos Tavares is planning a major management shakeup in response to the automaker’s disastrous profit warning, people familiar with the situation say.

Tavares could present his proposal at a board meeting in the U.S. this week, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss internal matters. The cuts could affect various departments, from finance teams to regional managers to brand managers, they said.

I can’t imagine a version of this meeting that doesn’t end with someone losing their job. The open question is whether the board accepts Tavares’ position that “he will stick to his mandate to the end and that the current headwinds ‘in no way’ challenge his strategy.”

Chery takes over former Mercedes, VW and Nissan plants

Remember when Russia was just a sometimes fractious trading partner that was slowly integrating into the global economy? Me neither. Clearly underestimating the determination of the brave Ukrainian people, Russia invaded Ukraine and attempted to overthrow the democratically elected government. A terrible, bloody war followed.

The international community reacted quickly and due to sanctions and pressure, almost all Western companies withdrew from the country. Mercedes, Volkswagen and Nissan in particular closed down and sold what they could, whenever they could.

Guess who filled the gap? China. Out of Reuters:

Chinese automakers have captured more than half of the Russian car market in terms of sales since most Western counterparts left the country following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Now they are expanding their reach to cover more of Russia’s domestic production, underscoring how Beijing has played a more influential role in Russia’s changing manufacturing landscape and economy since the invasion.

In addition to finished car imports to Russia, Chery, which accounts for nearly a fifth of Russian passenger car sales, imports nearly finished cars and carries out assembly at three Russian factories, the people said.

Neither Russia, for reasons of pride, nor China, for reasons of Western relations, seem particularly motivated to talk about it.

Ratan Tata, Indian industrialist, dies aged 86

Ratan Tata was one of India’s most influential leaders of the last quarter century, transforming the Tata Group from a national company into a global powerhouse.

If you’re a car enthusiast, you might know him as the man whose company released the super-affordable Tata Nano, or perhaps as the company that bought Jaguar Land Rover from Ford. The company’s reach extends far beyond cars and includes everything from major European steelmaker Corus to British tea company Tetley.

His company announced this morning that Mr. Tata had passed away:

It is with a deep sense of loss that we bid farewell to Mr. Ratan Naval Tata, a truly unusual leader whose immeasurable contributions shaped not only the Tata Group but also the fabric of our nation.

RIP to a real one.

What I listen to while writing TMD

I’m not going to lie, the first time I heard “New Slang” by The Shins was probably on Garden State Soundtrack. I’m not sure how well the film has held up, but this soundtrack is still a blast from coast to coast.

The big question

Which car manufacturer would you have a custom car made for you and what would you expect from them?