il3ana: Rolls Royce

Showing posts with label Rolls Royce. Show all posts

MINI Inspired by Goodwood Carries…Rolls Royce Inspired Price Tag at £41,000 or US$65,700!

Apparently, Aston Martin isn’t the only British automaker to lose contact with reality when it comes to pricing special edition models. Soon after Aston Martin slapped a €48,995 (equal to £44,100 and US$70,700 at the current exchange rates) sticker on its Colette-trimmed Toyota iQ…err… we mean Cygnet, the BMW Group division announced that its new MINI Inspired by Goodwood is priced at £41,000 (€45,600 or US$65,700). Read more »

Rolls-Royce Crafts One-Off Phantom Drophead Coupé Special with Bespoke Details

If your run of the mill Phantom Drophead Coupé is just too darn common, then you may want to take a look at this one-off special that will go on display at the Masterpiece London 2011, which is held in the South Grounds of the Royal Hospital in Chelsea, UK, from Saturday 30 June to Friday 5 July 2011. Read more »

Rolls Royce Owners Adds Some Color to Phantom Limo

Back in the mid-1990s, Volkswagen’s designers came up with a bright idea (literally…) involving the Polo supermini and the colorful theatrical character Harlequin. The result was the Polo Harlekin or Harlequin featuring a multi-colored body. Against all odds, the strange looking Polo proved to be a moderate success with Volkswagen boosting the initial production run from 1,000 cars to a total of around 3,800 units.

Apparently, the allure of a multicolored car isn’t limited to the masses as the owner of this Rolls Royce Phantom proves. According to the team over at Autogespot, it belongs to a UK resident named Alan who happens to own a number of exotic supercars including a Lamborghini Murciélago LP640 Roadster, Pagani Zonda F Roadster and a Spyker C8 Spyder.

In the same way the John Cooper Works moniker designates high-performance models, Mini plans to use the Goodwood name as a sub-brand for high-end luxury versions of its cars. According to British magazine Autocar, which quotes sources from within the company, the Goodwood badge will be used on luxurious, bespoke Minis just like the JCW badge is put on its high-performance models.

The first model of the Goodwood line is the “Mini Inspired by Goodwood”, which made its world premiere at the Shanghai auto show. The car is essentially a Cooper S that sports unique styling cues and trim options designed “in close collaboration” with Rolls-Royce. The name itself pays tribute to Rolls-Royce's headquarters, while the Shanghai unveiling signals the importance of the Chinese market for very expensive Minis.

The world premiere of Rolls-Royce's Ghost Extended Wheelbase took place at the Shanghai Auto Show, a sign of how important the Chinese market has become for premium carmakers. It's the first time Rolls-Royce brings a world launch to the Asia Pacific region, and the LWB Ghost is a fitting new model for a market that likes its sedans long and spacious.

A couple of years back, we shared some scoop photos of a prototype MINI with styling elements from Rolls Royce models. A company spokesman had then confirmed that the car was real, but to the dismay of many fans, he said that it was a one-off for a special dealer event. If you happened to like the idea of a Rolls-Royce-flavored MINI we have some good news for you as the British company will premiere a special edition model at the upcoming Shanghai Auto Show next week.

The limited production model is called “Mini Inspired by Goodwood”, with the name paying tribute to Rolls Royce’s headquarters. Only 1,000 examples of the special Mini will be built at the British firm’s Oxford plant, with first deliveries to take place in the spring of 2012.

The BMW Group is on track to reach new records in 2011 with the company posting its strongest monthly sales ever in March. The Bavarian automaker delivered a total of 165,842 BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brand vehicles in the past month, not only significantly beating the figure for March 2010 (141,717 units / +17%) but also the previous sales high of 152,721 vehicles recorded in December 2007. March sales rose in Europe by 7.8% to 93,540 vehicles, in Asia by a whopping 52% to 35,048 units, as well as in the Americas by 18.6% to 32,020 vehicles.

This custom monstrosity of a Rolls Royce Phantom replica is based on one of the last elegant BMW 7-Series models, the late 1980s-early 1990s E32, and was found for sale on a Polish used car website. There are so many things wrong with the build that we don't know where to start, but the flashy Rolls Royce sticker on the steering wheel could take the prize for being the worst item on the car...

The Phantom ~~clown~~ clone is built on a V12-powered 750i with the seller asking a laughable €56,653 (around US$75,500 at today's exchange rates) for the car. More photos after the break.

Source: Otomoto via Motofilm

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Anything but Ordinary: Jeremy Westerlund’s Rolls-Royce Apparition

In my opinion, über-luxury sedans are a little bit staid. Yes, from an engineering standpoint they are all very impressive and the technology incorporated into them is often state-of-the-art. You have to admit, though, that very few of us would drool over a Maybach the way you’d drool over a Lamborghini. Even the unshakable Rolls-Royce Phantom, the last word in personal luxury, is a little...well, dull.

So when a student designer like Jeremy Westerlund comes along with a design as interesting and unique as the Rolls Royce Apparition, all you can do is stare. Here is a personal limousine that, if it were built, would be 23 feet long. A car that features yacht-like styling and mahogany inserts on the wheels.

Clever design features abound, like the spare wheel secreted into the bodywork at the front like 1930s Rollers, an open cockpit for the driver and the twin rear windows that mirror the shape of the headlights. It’s like something out of a science fiction film, and a heck of a lot more interesting than some of the so-called concept cars Rolls-Royce has show in the past five years.

Though don’t take my word for it. Voice your own opinion in the comments section below. Is Westerlund’s Apparition a styling triumph or a design disaster?

By Tristan Hankins

Source: Jeremy Westerlund via Autoblog

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