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Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is a luxury automobile British manufacturer based in England. From historical production dates back to 1904, it is the current producer of Rolls-Royce branded automobiles. BMW already supplied engines and other components for Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars and finally purchased Rolls-Royce Motors in 1998, wholly owned subsidiary of the BMW Group now.

Rolls-Royce plc,(the aero-engine maker) chose to license the certain essential trademarks (the Rolls-Royce name and logo) not to VW but to BMW whom it had recently had joint business ventures. BMW lacked rights to the grille and mascot while VW had bought rights to the "Spirit of Ecstasy" bonnet (hood) ornament and the shape of the radiator grille but it lacked rights to the Rolls-Royce name necessary to build the cars. A bargain for possibly the most valuable property in the deal, BMW bought an option on the trademarks, licensing the name and "RR" logo for £40m as VW claimed that it had only really wanted Bentley anyway. BMW would continue to supply engines for the cars and would allow use of the names from 1998 to 2002, the Rolls-Royce's Corniche ceased production in 2002. VW's former Rolls-Royce/Bentley division would build only cars called "Bentley" and only BMW would be able to name cars "Rolls-Royce from 1 January 2003.