The Rolls-Royce brand has become so successful in its 102-year history that it has entered the vernacular to describe something at the pinnacle of quality - like 'the Rolls-Royce of hotels', for instance. Though Ian Robertson is understandably proud of such a development, at the same time, the chairman and chief executive of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars says that this success also brings with it a certain responsibility.

'We have to live up to our promise,' explains Mr Robertson, 48. 'When people buy a Rolls-Royce, they are buying into the history, they are buying into a belief that it is the best and they are buying into a company with a great future as well. If we don't deliver on that, that's when the brand would suffer.'

Rolls-Royce was founded early last century when Henry Royce, an engineer who had just built his first car, met Charles Rolls, a motoring enthusiast with a London dealership offering expensive foreign automobiles. Soon, it became one of the most famous double-barrelled names in luxury motor cars and would also go on to make aircraft engines that would play a pivotal role in World War I.

'Strive for perfection in everything you do,' Sir Henry Royce as Rolls-Royce's first chief engineer was once quoted as saying. 'Take the best that exists and make it better. When it doesn't exist, design it.'

And this engineering philosophy has been embraced by the company ever since, according to Mr Robertson. 'When Henry Royce developed the first cars, it was about engineering. In 1907 when that first Silver Ghost came off the line, it changed the face of motoring,' he says, adding that this was at a time when the automobile was still in its infancy and '20 years before the Ford Model T', the world's first mass-produced car.

'And that Silver Ghost did 14,000 miles without a service, which rewrote what motor cars are about. That was engineering. Luxury and all those things came secondary.'

Mr Robertson says engineering was foremost on the minds of the team which developed the modern-day Phantom. 'The Phantom has the largest aluminium space frame that has ever been done, which is very light, very flexible, very stiff and which gives us the structure on which to build our car and is unique to us because nobody else is doing that.'

This high-tech body is then brought together with the other technologies like the electronics, engine and suspension, plus the skills of its many craftsmen. 'The result is an authentic contemporary Rolls-Royce but at the heart of all that is proven leading edge engineering,' declares Mr Robertson.

Experiencing waftability

While this painstaking engineering prowess may not be immediately apparent to the wealthy customers of the Phantom, he insists that they do experience it.

'Why does the car drive the way it does? How do we achieve this waftability'?

It's because of that engineering.' This unusual word was coined after a British motoring writer from a hundred years ago commented on the 'feeling of being wafted through the countryside' after riding in the Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP.

So does sitting in the back of a $1.5 million Phantom limousine in 2007 produce that same sensation of waftability? Mr Robertson is convinced it does.

'First of all, the car is very quiet and there are no squeaks and rattles. All the components fit together and that's because of the aluminium space frame.

Now the customer experiences the silence, the refinement and riding ability.

The fact that it's got the aluminium space frame isn't important to him but he wants the result. So he experiences it without knowing it.

'Same as the engine. You don't feel the gears change because it's effortless.'

That rare ability to glide forward silently and smoothly will certainly be imparted to the new and smaller Rolls-Royce. Due to go on sale in 2009 or 2010, it will widen the model range in the same way the hugely successful Continental GT coupe and its saloon equivalent, the Flying Spur, did for rival Bentley.

Mr Robertson says he has signed off on its design and a prototype will be ready for testing in early 2007. But will this less expensive 'baby' Rolls somehow dilute the hallowed marque's appeal? 'Status and positioning are very important to us. I don't like to say never but we are unlikely to enter a segment if it affects our positioning.'

More importantly, the niche which the new and smaller model is being targeted at looks very promising because 'it is hardly occupied'. Mr Robertson explains that there are three high-end car segments, nett taxes - US$100,000-US$200,000, US$200,000-US$300,000, and above US$300,000.

As expected, the number of customers diminish rapidly as the prices go higher. For instance, there are more than eight million prospective customers worldwide with a disposable income of US$1 million to US$2 million, but only 80,000 with over US$20 million. And consider that at least one luxury carmaker has estimated that only about 8,000 cars worth more than US$200,000 are sold each year.

'Already, we dominate the segment US$300,000 and above. In the US$100,000-US$200,000 segment, there are a lot of people there, like Bentley, Ferrari and Porsche. We view the US$200,000-US$300,000 as having very few competitors and having a lot of potential. We are positioning ourselves right at the top of the business because Rolls-Royce has pinnacle status.'

So will the Rolls-Royce family be complete with the arrival of this new and smaller car in two to three years' time? 'I wouldn't think so,' says Mr Robertson with a knowing smile. 'We have lots and lots of ideas and we are prioritising our ideas. Over time, some of those may develop further. Some of them may never see the light of day. But it is a very healthy situation that we have more ideas than we need to have.'

He refuses to get into the specifics of what some of these 'ideas' are, only to say that over the marque's 102-year history, 'we've made cars in every single segment of luxury that has existed'. These include grand saloons like the ones currently being made, elegant convertibles, sporty coupes and roadsters.

'We've even made vehicles for the maharajahs in India in the '20s and '30s which could today be considered offroad vehicles. We've made six-seat vehicles, eight-seat vehicles, four-seat vehicles and two-seat vehicles, so there isn't anything we haven't done. We've made racing cars and we won a grand prix in 1930.'

Rolls-Royce also has speed records in every segment, he adds, 'whether it be flying, boats or cars'. 'We have a history on which we can draw great heritage and what we need to do is prioritise where we're going. We're broadening our range quite dramatically in a relatively short period of time and there is development virtually every year.'

Rolls-Royce's colourful history entered a new phase in 1998 when it became part of German carmaker BMW. Under its new owner, the ultra-luxury brand was rejuvenated with new investments and technology. In 2003, the Phantom limousine was launched, followed by the Extended Wheelbase version in 2005. With its imposing exterior styling and sybaritic interior luxury, more than 2,800 units have been bought worldwide since. To widen the lineup further, a two-door, four-seat convertible called the Phantom Drophead Coupe debut this month, and according to Mr Robertson, a Coupe will follow if all goes well.

Mr Robertson became the head of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars in February 2005. A graduate in maritime studies from the University of Wales, he joined the Rover Group in the UK in 1979 and rose steadily through the ranks. Rover was purchased by BMW in 1994 and by the time the German manufacturer sold it off six years later, he had been named managing director of BMW South Africa.

Britishness still retained

With his polite and gracious manner, Mr Robertson appears to be the typical Englishman at the head of a quintessentially English brand. But how has German ownership and technical know-how influenced the Britishness of Rolls-Royce?

'First of all, I don't think any of the Britishness has been lost. It has been enhanced. The Rolls-Royce cars of the last 20 years were reasonable cars.

But they did suffer because of a lack of investment. Of course, being part of a big car company, and more than that, the world's largest premium car company, we are able to enjoy a lot of resources to help us develop.'

And one critical area of development has been body design, he says, especially in terms of crash design, body stiffness and safety systems. Anyway, he points out that among all the premium brands around the world, 'there are none which stand alone'.

'If you look at Ferrari and Maserati, they are part of the Fiat group. If you look at Bentley, it is part of Volkswagen. Aston Martin is part of Ford, and Bugatti part of Audi.'

But he also takes pains to point out that a British design team was behind the creation of the Phantom. That team was led by Ian Cameron, who is still design director, and chief engineer Tim Leverton, who has since left the company.

'Of the 550 people at our plant, 90 per cent are British, and the fact that it is located in England. We've taken the best of both worlds and we've combined it, so all of the people making the components and the craft are all

British people, with minor exceptions like some Portuguese and some French people, but they are not coming out from Munich,' referring to the German city where the BMW Group is headquartered.

'So from that perspective, we have succeeded in retaining our Britishness, enhancing our engineering and developing a car which has all of the attributes of a Rolls-Royce, the technology where appropriate from the group and, more importantly, the intellectual capability which is behind it to make sure it is absolutely future-driven as well as not forgetting our past.'