Making a Marque

Few brands in any field carry the cachet of Rolls-Royce--and it's a cachet rooted in the incredibly high quality, luxury, and attention to detail that has marked their cars for more than a century.

This history of Rolls-Royce motor cars runs from the company's origins in 1904--when Charles Rolls met Henry Royce and drove the car that Royce was developing--through the outbreak of World War II. Peter Moss shows how the pairing of Royce, engineering genius, and Rolls, the businessman, was the foundation of the company--but that Rolls-Royce's long-term success relied just as much on managing director Claude Johnson's innovations in promoting the cars and the company. That marketing, and the publicity it generated, helped Rolls-Royce stand out in a crowded field as the market for cars exploded worldwide. Richly illustrated with little-seen marketing materials and ephemera, and buttressed by internal documents of meetings and plans, this book shows how Rolls-Royce turned its very name into a byword for luxury.