450 cars will roll off the Rolls-Royce production line this year

Luxury car manufacturer Rolls-Royce has denied newspaper reports it plans to move its assembly line operation to Germany.

The firm, which was bought by the carmaker BMW in 1998, builds cars at a purpose-built plant in Goodwood, West Sussex.

The first Rolls-Royce to be produced since BMW took charge of the brand - The Phantom - went on sale this year with a price tag of �245,000.

The Daily Telegraph claims the company could be about to shift manufacturing after increasing the number of German managers brought over to the plant to "shadow" the UK workforce.

'Normal procedure'

But Rolls-Royce spokesman Fred Fruth, said: "As we are part of the BMW Group we have colleagues from other bases on a temporary basis. It is normal procedure."

BMW has set a target for the 450 staff at the plant to produce 1,000 cars a year, but during the first year of production only 480 will be made.

Mr Fruth, said: "The plant is new, the car is new and the team is new. You cannot go on maximum production from day one."

The internal fittings of the Phantom are all made in Britain.

But the company was forced to go to Germany for the Phantom's engineering because nowhere in the UK could provide the engine technology.