The story of the new Rolls-Royce begins in February 1999 in an apartment above a bank in Lancaster Gate in London. BMW, which had stolen Rolls-Royce from under Volkswagen’s nose, determined that the influences on the new model would be British and that the flat overlooking Hyde Park was an ideal place to see the world’s finest cars go by.

For nine months it was home to an international team of five designers, headed by Ian Cameron, a Scot, working in secret on the shape, style and ambiance of RR01, a Rolls-Royce for the 21st century. The neighbours were perplexed by their comings and goings as they sketched, photographed, worked on computers and covered the dining room with concept models and mock-ups of the seating positions and arrangements for a grand limousine.

From the start it was clear that BMW’s Rolls-Royce would not be smaller, sportier and less expensive like the first Bentley from Volkswagen. Rather, it was to be an exclusive car with the size and bearing of the pre-war Phantoms and the Silver Cloud of the 1950s. This was the return of the early perpendicular Rolls-Royce.

Of course, it would have to use modern BMW components and technology and the engineering would be done in Munich. But those who expected the RR01 to be a BMW 7-series in fancy dress were wide of the mark. As you can see from the photographs, this couldn’t be anything but a Rolls-Royce. Ostentation rules: at more than 19ft long and with that huge vertical grille, this is not a car for the shy and retiring. Lady Penelope would approve.

This upright, old world character is in direct contrast to the executive jet style of the Maybach from BMW’s arch rival Mercedes-Benz. The Rolls-Royce and the Maybach are about the same price — around £250,000 — but their customers will be very different.

When Rolls-Royce and Bentley were divorced after 70 years of marriage, Bentley was left with the family home at Crewe. All BMW took was the Rolls-Royce name, the badge and the famous Spirit of Ecstasy flying lady mascot. Even if its bodyshell and most of the mechanical components were to come from Germany, the new Rolls-Royce would be built, trimmed and finished in Britain.

BMW settled on a site on the Goodwood estate near Chichester in West Sussex and built a showpiece factory — half-hidden in a quarry so as not to defile the sweep of the South Downs.

There, the bodies, made mostly of aluminium, are mated to the BMW 760’s V12 engine enlarged to the traditional Rolls 6.75 litres, a six-speed automatic gearbox and a specially devised air suspension. The Goodwood factory will be able to make 1,000 cars a year, each painstakingly assembled by hand, and it has recruited a new team of craftsmen to produce the fine paintwork and interior furnishings for which Rolls-Royce is renowned.

The wellbeing of its passengers is the raison d’être for any Rolls-Royce. In the new model those in the spacious rear compartment sit well back, shrouded in privacy by the heavy rear pillars. There is the choice of a bench seat with wrap-round sides like a chesterfield sofa, or two individually adjustable chairs. The rear seating position is an inch higher than the front and the floor is raised so that there is only the hint of a transmission tunnel. To ensure elegant access there are rear-hinged “coach” doors that can be closed by a switch alongside the seat.

BMW regards the wood and leather, like the paint, as part of the essential Britishness of Rolls-Royce; ironically, the hard-looking but delightfully soft-feeling hides (17 per car come from Bavaria. The style of the fascia is traditional, but hidden behind highly polished elm veneer panels are an information display cum television screen, a simplified version of the BMW 7-series’s iDrive controller and a couple of cupholders.

Rolls-Royces are more about travelling in splendour than driving pleasure, but the team that developed this one say it has been designed as much for the driver as the passengers. Permanent chauffeurs are a rare luxury these days and Rolls-Royce reckons 90% of owners will drive themselves. The RR01 is bigger and 185lb heavier than the Silver Seraph (which also had a BMW V12) but if its 455bhp is a whopping 129bhp increase the real emphasis is on torque, all 527lb ft of it, 85% of which is available from just 1,000rpm.

With all that pulling power, it shouldn’t be a bad performer. The high, sit-up-straight driving position and the big, thin-rimmed steering wheel do not suggest a sporting character but the engineers will proudly tell you that, if it must, it can embarrass a Porsche 911 away from the traffic lights. The maximum speed of 150mph is limited by the special Michelin Pax run-flat tyres, on massive 20in wheels, chosen for comfort rather than ultimate speed.

As this is written, neither we nor anyone else outside Rolls-Royce and BMW has driven the new car. We shouldn’t be surprised by this reluctance as Rolls-Royce has been almost in suspension for the past four years, with Volkswagen remaining the custodian but knowing it would surrender the brand, and BMW choosing to remain silent about its plans until it officially took over on January 1.

Has the reputation of Rolls-Royce diminished in the meantime? And will the world accept a British icon owned by the Germans? Tony Gott, once head of Rolls-Royce and Bentley, and now managing director of BMW’s Rolls-Royce, says: “The important thing is that this car fits the brand today. People talk about the Rolls-Royce of fountain pens, lawnmowers and kitchen appliances. What we had to do was make the Rolls-Royce of motor cars.”

Vital statistics

Model Rolls-Royce 'RR01'
Engine type V12
Capacity 6,750cc
Power 455bhp @ 5350rpm
Torque 527lb ft @ 3500rpm
Dimensions 5830mm length; 1630mm height; 1981mm width
Transmission Six-speed automatic
Acceleration 0 to 60mph: 6sec
Top speed 150mph
Weight 5,478lb
Price £250,000 (approx)

HISTORY OF QUALITY: Always a Royce and never a Roller

• Henry Royce (1863-1933) was the engineering genius behind Rolls-Royce, a man with very exacting standards who said: “The quality remains after the price is forgotten.” Rolls-Royce was formed after he met Charles Rolls in 1904
• In 1931, Rolls-Royce acquired Bentley Motors when it ran into financial trouble
• Rolls-Royce cars and aero engines were made by the same company until 1971, when the business failed. The aero engine maker was nationalised and Rolls-Royce Motors established as a separate company
• Volkswagen beat BMW with a £430m bid to buy Rolls-Royce and Bentley in 1998, to find that it only had title to Bentley and that BMW had paid the Rolls-Royce aero engine company £40m for the rights to make Rolls-Royce cars
• The flying lady radiator mascot called the Spirit of Ecstasy was produced by the artist Charles Sykes in 1911. His model was Eleanor Thornton, mistress of the pioneer motorist Lord Montagu of Beaulieu
• For years Rolls-Royce refused to issue power output figures for its engines, stating merely than the power was “sufficient”. By the same token, turbocharged engines were “more than sufficient”
• Rolls-Royce didn’t make complete cars until after the second world war — before that they were supplied in chassis form to coachbuilders who produced their own bodies
• Around the company, the cars are called “Royces” but never “Rollers” and they are always “motor cars” rather than “cars”