�Hours per vehicle reflect the time worked by all direct and indirect labour involved in manufacturing a vehicle. This includes both hourly and salaried workers who are assigned to each company�s stamping, engine, transmission, and assembly plants. The total hours worked are divided by the number of vehicles produced in the calendar year to yield the labour hours per vehicle. It is not a measure of how long it takes for the vehicle to be assembled, rather it measures the quantity of labour required to produce a vehicle.� *
The average time required for a car to be built is around 30 - 35 hours and the graph below provides a global productivity comparison. Note that those labour hours don't take into account the hours required for components supplied by external suppliers. Also, you should bear in mind that more labour hours don't necessarily mean better quality, as too often, large numbers of people and labour hours are devoted to inspecting and repairing vehicles that have not been built right in the first place.
In 2009 issue of Oliver Wyman's automotivemanager, there some interesting facts regarding the gap between automakers, which you can read below.
�Of the six largest automakers in North America (General Motors, Toyota, Honda, Ford, Chrysler, and Nissan), the gap between the most and least productive is now just 3.5 labour hours per vehicle, or about USD 260, down from 10.51 labour hours, or USD 709 per vehicle in 2003. Chrysler showed the biggest improvement, cutting its total manufacturing labour hours per vehicle by 8 percent to 30.37, approximately the same number recorded by Toyota. Performances of the other four companies were all similar: Honda, 31.33 hours; General Motors, 32.29 hours; Nissan, 32.96 hours; and Ford, 33.88 hours.� *
�In Europe, the gap between the most and least productive remains wide (from less than 20 hours per vehicle at the best plants to more than 60 at the worst). Some automakers have made substantial progress toward the types of sustainable manufacturing processes that characterize the world�s best competitors. Others have only just started or are just starting to implement the most basic tools of lean production.� *
So now, you can understand the price difference between a BMW 760Li and a Rolls-Royce Ghost. Achieving the highest level of quality and craftsmanship requires a lot of time and this is what you pay. A BMW 7 Series requires an average of 51 hours in order to be built, while a Ghost... 20 days! A BMW 760Li costs in Germany (base price) �121,260.50 + VAT, while the base price for a Rolls-Royce Ghost is �213,000.00 + VAT (the Ghost borrows 20% of its parts from BMW F01 platform underpinning the 7 Series, while it has a wheelbase, roof height, bonnet height and track widths all of its own).
Some fine examples of British craftsmanship!
Below you can read some impressive facts related to the craftsmanship of Bentley and Rolls-Royce cars, which offer unrivalled choice of veneers, leather hides and paint colours ensuring that the needs of all customers can be matched perfectly.
The Rolls-Royce Phantom Coup� uses an all-aluminium spaceframe, first seen in the Phantom. Manufactured to within a tolerance of just 0.1 mm / 0.004 in, each spaceframe is constructed by hand and then checked by computer to ensure total accuracy. The body�s structure, comprised of box sections of aluminium, is painstakingly hand-welded by a team of experts. Every morning, each member of the team performs a 300 mm test weld to ascertain atmospheric effects on the metal with which they are working so that these can be taken into account. In all, more than 130 metres of weld are used to create the Coup�s spaceframe.
Five layers of paint and clear lacquer are applied to each Rolls-Royce � seven if it�s a two-tone car � and between each application, technicians sand the body by hand. After the final layer has been applied, the body is hand-polished for five hours. Which is why when you look closely at the car's paint work, you�ll see a perfect reflection of yourself staring back at you. The painting process takes in total seven days to achieve. In that time, they spend longer sanding the bodyshell between coats by hand than they do painting it. Customers can choose from 15 standard exterior paint colours, or 45,000 Bespoke colours, for their Phantom.
Each set of veneers comes from a single tree to create a simple, seamless, flow of high-gloss wood from the fascia through the whole car. Depending on specification, up to 43 wood parts are used in each Rolls-Royce Phantom (this translates to more than 10m2 of wood). Each of these is constructed from up to 28 layers of wood, interspersed with thin sheets of aluminium to ensure strength and to prevent splintering in the event of an impact.
It takes between 15 and 18 hides to upholster one Phantom � more for the Phantom Extended Wheelbase. Each one comes from specially selected herds of cattle, and only the most supple mature bull hides are used. Each hide is checked meticulously by hand to identify any imperfections. The 450 individual leather parts are then cut out using a precision laser before being carefully stitched by hand.
Three different types of leather are used: natural grain for the seats and trims, pre-shrunk in sun-lit areas and tipped (embossed) on the centre console and door trims to provide an attractive variation.
It takes, on average, 460 hours to hand-build each Phantom, not including engine or body-building time.
The Rolls-Royce Ghost passes through 60 pairs of hands before it�s handed over to the customer. Modern manufacturing processes combine with traditional craft skills to turn the bodyshell into the finished car. In all, it involves over 2,000 individual operations and takes 20 days to complete. The body is constructed from steel sections and then wrapped in steel panels, which are brazed by hand. This allows a near-seamless join, which is then sanded by hand until it is perfect. In total, Ghost�s frame contains 4.9 m of seam weld and braze and 6,988 spot-welds. The bonnet and windscreen surround are then honed from aluminium.
A Bentley Mulsanne takes 9 weeks to complete and over 170 hours, almost half the entire build process, go into crafting the interior! Each steering wheel, for example, can take 15 hours to hand-stitch (and three times longer if the customer opts for cross-stitching). Stainless steel brightware gleams so perfectly thanks to an intensive 10-hour finishing process. A wood veneer takes two weeks to turn from a rough root ball into a full set of mirror-matched, fine-polished leaves.
The old-school Bentley models, Azure / Arnage / Brookland, are by far my favourite ones and the first chance I got to seat behind the steering wheel of such a car was at the British International Motor Show back in 1999 (it was a beautiful red Arnage!!!). Every veneer leaf is just 0.6mm thick and in the two weeks that it takes to prepare the wood for one car's interior, the veneers are given five coats of lacquer and three days of curing time before being wax polished by hand. The wood shop uses no bleaching or staining techniques; the rich colour of the veneers is entirely natural. It can take as many as 24 leaves of veneer to make the main veneered components of a Bentley cabin.
Each leaf of veneer can be traced back to the tree from which it came. The most popular choice is Burr Walnut, the distinctive pattern coming from a fungus in the root ball. These root balls, generally around 1 metre in diameter, would typically be over eighty years old. Each tree used for veneer is past its fruit-bearing age and is replaced with three more. Up to 6.2m2 of veneer is used in every standard Azure / Arnage / Brookland, each wood-set taking approximately sixty hours to complete.
It takes 17 separate hides to create the leather surrounds of the Azure / Arnage / Brookland interior cabin. To avoid any variation in texture between the different hides, they are selected and cut at the same time after being minutely inspected for imperfections. Even something as slight as a scratch or an insect bite will cause a hide to be rejected, which is why our hides are selected from herds in Northern Europe, renowned for their remarkable lack of imperfections (e.g. no mosquito bites).
The Rolls-Royce Phantom Coup� uses an all-aluminium spaceframe, first seen in the Phantom. Manufactured to within a tolerance of just 0.1 mm / 0.004 in, each spaceframe is constructed by hand and then checked by computer to ensure total accuracy. The body�s structure, comprised of box sections of aluminium, is painstakingly hand-welded by a team of experts. Every morning, each member of the team performs a 300 mm test weld to ascertain atmospheric effects on the metal with which they are working so that these can be taken into account. In all, more than 130 metres of weld are used to create the Coup�s spaceframe.
Five layers of paint and clear lacquer are applied to each Rolls-Royce � seven if it�s a two-tone car � and between each application, technicians sand the body by hand. After the final layer has been applied, the body is hand-polished for five hours. Which is why when you look closely at the car's paint work, you�ll see a perfect reflection of yourself staring back at you. The painting process takes in total seven days to achieve. In that time, they spend longer sanding the bodyshell between coats by hand than they do painting it. Customers can choose from 15 standard exterior paint colours, or 45,000 Bespoke colours, for their Phantom.
Each set of veneers comes from a single tree to create a simple, seamless, flow of high-gloss wood from the fascia through the whole car. Depending on specification, up to 43 wood parts are used in each Rolls-Royce Phantom (this translates to more than 10m2 of wood). Each of these is constructed from up to 28 layers of wood, interspersed with thin sheets of aluminium to ensure strength and to prevent splintering in the event of an impact.
It takes between 15 and 18 hides to upholster one Phantom � more for the Phantom Extended Wheelbase. Each one comes from specially selected herds of cattle, and only the most supple mature bull hides are used. Each hide is checked meticulously by hand to identify any imperfections. The 450 individual leather parts are then cut out using a precision laser before being carefully stitched by hand.
Three different types of leather are used: natural grain for the seats and trims, pre-shrunk in sun-lit areas and tipped (embossed) on the centre console and door trims to provide an attractive variation.
It takes, on average, 460 hours to hand-build each Phantom, not including engine or body-building time.
The Rolls-Royce Ghost passes through 60 pairs of hands before it�s handed over to the customer. Modern manufacturing processes combine with traditional craft skills to turn the bodyshell into the finished car. In all, it involves over 2,000 individual operations and takes 20 days to complete. The body is constructed from steel sections and then wrapped in steel panels, which are brazed by hand. This allows a near-seamless join, which is then sanded by hand until it is perfect. In total, Ghost�s frame contains 4.9 m of seam weld and braze and 6,988 spot-welds. The bonnet and windscreen surround are then honed from aluminium.
A Bentley Mulsanne takes 9 weeks to complete and over 170 hours, almost half the entire build process, go into crafting the interior! Each steering wheel, for example, can take 15 hours to hand-stitch (and three times longer if the customer opts for cross-stitching). Stainless steel brightware gleams so perfectly thanks to an intensive 10-hour finishing process. A wood veneer takes two weeks to turn from a rough root ball into a full set of mirror-matched, fine-polished leaves.
The old-school Bentley models, Azure / Arnage / Brookland, are by far my favourite ones and the first chance I got to seat behind the steering wheel of such a car was at the British International Motor Show back in 1999 (it was a beautiful red Arnage!!!). Every veneer leaf is just 0.6mm thick and in the two weeks that it takes to prepare the wood for one car's interior, the veneers are given five coats of lacquer and three days of curing time before being wax polished by hand. The wood shop uses no bleaching or staining techniques; the rich colour of the veneers is entirely natural. It can take as many as 24 leaves of veneer to make the main veneered components of a Bentley cabin.
Each leaf of veneer can be traced back to the tree from which it came. The most popular choice is Burr Walnut, the distinctive pattern coming from a fungus in the root ball. These root balls, generally around 1 metre in diameter, would typically be over eighty years old. Each tree used for veneer is past its fruit-bearing age and is replaced with three more. Up to 6.2m2 of veneer is used in every standard Azure / Arnage / Brookland, each wood-set taking approximately sixty hours to complete.
It takes 17 separate hides to create the leather surrounds of the Azure / Arnage / Brookland interior cabin. To avoid any variation in texture between the different hides, they are selected and cut at the same time after being minutely inspected for imperfections. Even something as slight as a scratch or an insect bite will cause a hide to be rejected, which is why our hides are selected from herds in Northern Europe, renowned for their remarkable lack of imperfections (e.g. no mosquito bites).
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