Rolls-Royce moves its shutdown from summer to April to prepare for BrexitÂ

The company, which usually has two weeks of shutdown in the summer, is moving this break to April as it prepares for a '˜chaotic' Brexit.

Rolls-Royce, which has its headquarters in Goodwood, is also expanding warehouse space, investing in IT and storing additional parts.

The news comes after the firm unveiled record sales figures and announced it would not be moving manufacturing elsewhere once Britain leaves the European Union.

Chief executive Torsten Muller-Otvos said: '˜Rolls-Royce belongs to Britain, we are committed to Britain.

'˜Rolls-Royce is part of what I would call the British industrial crown jewels.

'˜It is an in-built brand promise even for our customers worldwide to be proudly built in Goodwood.'

Rolls-Royce has announced annual sales of 4,107 vehicles in 2018, marking a 22 per cent increase on the prior year's total of 3,362.

The US is still the brand's largest market, accounting for around 30 per cent of 2018 sales.

The UK market has also held up at around 10 per cent of all sales, boosted last year by the release of the new Phantom model.

'˜We haven't seen any downturn,' Mr Muller-Otvos said. '˜I can't promise what will happen this year.

'˜If it's a hard Brexit then probably the mood here in the UK tanks and probably also our sales might be affected.'