Originally Posted by Landroger
....could that be one of the odd features of those RR (or should that be VW?) makes?
Trolling under the wrong bridge there, I think, bro'. Rolls-Royce, the makers of cars - automobiles? - are owned by Volkswagen, but Rolls-Royce (1971) Ltd., - or whatever they are called nowadays - make some of the world's finest aeroplane engines. And you can see from the name, how far back it was that they were the same company. Keep with the programme.
Roger.
Not quite, but almost. When VW purchased the carmaker then known as Rolls Royce Motors from Vickers, who owned it at the time, they were unaware that the trade mark still belonged to Rolls Royce (1971) Ltd, and was not included in the deal. BMW were also in the chase as they had been supplying engines to RRM for some time, so knew the situation. When the sale went through VW outbid BMW, so BMW nipped in quick and bought the rights to the name from RR (1971) for a bargain £40 million. That's why VW now build up-market Audis with Bentley badges in the old Rolls Royce Motors factory in Crewe, and BMW build posh but extraordinarily ugly Beemers with a Spirit Of Ectasy on the front in a purpose-built factory in Goodwood.