什麼是勞斯－萊斯公司
英國飛機引擎及其它動力技術產品製造商。在20世紀很長一段時間內，該公司都進行豪華汽車生產。汽車和飛機駕駛的先驅查理.斯圖爾特.勞斯和工程師兼起重機制造商亨利.萊斯於1906年成立了勞斯－萊斯公司。該公司製造的外型美觀，設計完美的轎車包括銀色幽靈（1906年推出的「40/50馬力」型）、幻影系列（1925）、銀色黎明（1949）、銀雲（1955）、銀影（1965）和銀色天使（1998）等車型。1931年勞斯－萊斯公司購得一家上等汽車製造公司，班特利汽車公司。以1914年鷹式引擎的生產爲開端，該公司也生產了一系列螺旋槳飛機和噴射飛機所使用的引擎。它的渦輪式引擎最終成爲其銷售額的主要部分。由於與洛克希德飛機公司（參閱Lockheed Martin Corporation）簽訂了一分固定價格的合約，生產裝置在L-1011客機上的引擎，迫使勞斯－萊斯公司在1971年宣告破產。之後，公司被拆爲兩部分：生產飛機引擎的一部分由英國政府接管，後被私營化，成爲勞斯－萊斯上市公司，生產汽車發動機的一部分被重組爲勞斯－萊斯發動機股份公司，後也被私有化。後者於1980年被Vicers公司購得，它將勞斯－萊斯發動機股份公司於1998年轉賣給福斯汽車公司，合約中規定寶馬汽車廠將於2003年起，用勞斯－萊斯之名生產轎車，而福斯汽車公司則獲得班特利公司的生產線。
Rolls-Royce PLC
British manufacturer of aircraft engines and propulsion and power systems and, for much of the 20th century, a maker of luxury automobiles. Charles S. Rolls, a pioneer motorist and aviator, and Henry Royce, an engineer and carmaker, incorporated Rolls-Royce Ltd. in 1906. The firm's handsome, immaculately engineered cars included the Silver Ghost (introduced 1906 as “40/50 hp” model), a series of phantoms (1925), the Silver Dawn (1949), Silver Cloud (1955), Silver Shadow (1965), and Silver Seraph (1998). In 1931 Rolls-Royce acquired Bentley Motors Ltd., another maker of fine cars. Rolls-Royce also developed a series of notable piston and jet aircraft engines, beginning with the Eagle (1914); eventually its turbine-engine operations accounted for the largest part of its sales. A fixed-price contract with Lockheed Aircraft (see Lockheed Martin Corp.) to produce an engine for its L-1011 TriStar jetliner drove Rolls-Royce into bankruptcy in 1971. It was split into two companies: its jet-engine division was taken over by the British government and later privatized as Rolls-Royce PLC, while its automobile operations were restructured into Rolls-Royce Motor Holdings Ltd. and privatized. The latter was acquired in 1980 by Vickers Ltd., which sold it to Volkswagen AG in 1998 as part of a novel agreement in which BMW AG would take over the manufacture of cars with the Rolls-Royce name in 2003, while Volkswagen retained the Bentley line.
