Rolls Royce announces new model from Paris
by Noah Joseph on Sep 29th 2006 at 8:57AM 
Rolls-Royce (literally the "Rolls-Royce" of automobiles) revealed in Paris that they've started working on their long-awaited "baby Rolls-Royce", which it projects will be ready within four years from now.
Saying "baby Rolls-Royce" is relative when it'll still cost as much as a small house, but considering its big-brother Phantom costs as much as a large one, the projected price in the €2-300,000 range seems like a bargain by comparison.
Currently the BMW-owned super-luxe carmaker offers only the Phantom sedan. The smaller sedan, which is expected to share some bits with the next BMW 7-Series, will be joining a few more models, including a stretched Phantom, a new cabriolet (previewed at Geneva '04 by the 101EX showcar) and its possible coupe derivative.
(Follow the jump for the short press release.)
STATEMENT FROM ROLLS-ROYCE MOTOR CARS
29.09.2006
Rolls-Royce new model series
At a private function at the Paris motor show yesterday evening, Ian Robertson, Chairman and Chief Executive of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, confirmed that work has begun on a new model series. It will be launched within the next four years. The new car will be smaller than the Phantom and cost between 200,000 Euros and 300,000 Euros before tax. Planning permission has been granted to expand business operations at Goodwood. Further details will be announced in due course.
Sales of Rolls-Royce Phantoms are forecasted to be around 800 cars by the end of 2006, marking a fourth consecutive year of growth. The Phantom and extended wheelbase version will soon be joined by a new convertible model that will be unveiled in 2007.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
JC Whitless 9:12AM (9/29/2006)
Whomever wrote that first sentence "Rolls-Royce (literally the "Rolls-Royce" of automobiles)..." should never be allowed to write anything automotive again. Ever.
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Quantumphysics 3:08PM (5/23/2009)
Its really not that awesome.
Tiago do Vale 9:33AM (9/29/2006)
"Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry." I didn't find that relevant at all.
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rwdmtparkingonly 9:40AM (9/29/2006)
JC was relavant to the post. Comment #1 analyzed the writting of the post, it couldn't be more relevant.
An example of something not relavant to the post is something like "Hey, that car is hot. - carchops.com."
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Andy, UK 9:47AM (9/29/2006)
This is great news for one of the world's most storied brands. After overseeing Bentley's renaissance (they now sell 10,000 cars a year) Rolls has been overdue another model in its a range. Admittedly four years is longer than I expected the debut of a new, smaller Rolls to take place, but with BMW at the helm its highly unlikely the product will be anything other than a run-away success.
P.S. to the morons who posted blogs #1, 2, 3 - you're all irrelevant tossers
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rwdmtparkingonly 10:11AM (9/29/2006)
Andy, UK, go eat a crumpet and pay VAT on a Fiesta. Your post is just fluffy crap. Wow, RR is going to sell a 200,000 Euro-plus sedan in four years; that's almost as exciting as information about a new special edition version of the PT Cruiser. BMW is going to have to turbo their V12 if they want to be competitive.
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misterbleepy 10:24AM (9/29/2006)
#1 - IRONY
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Andy, UK 10:45AM (9/29/2006)
rwdmtparkingonly
Where do the world's most reverred sports and luxury marques originate from? Aston Martin, Lotus, TVR, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Jaguar and Land Rover? Er, not the Land of the Fat. You have Cadillac, Lincoln and Hummer. *sniggers*
Germany and Italy are home to the rest of the world's truly great sporting and luxury marques, as I'm sure you're aware. My point is that these great brands and their cars are mostly engineered for Europe - if they were engineered for America they might as well build a clone of the Dodge Ram or Toyota Camry. Being an American you are too fat and stupid to understand cars and what driver appeal is all about. You drive around in poorly engineered trucks that can't handle, and domestic and japanese cars with all the driving excitement of a washing machine.
Oh, and BMW is likely to phase out production of its V12 altogether - its simply too heavy. A lighter turbo or bi-turbo V10 will replace the V12 in the 7-series and possibly result in the launch of an M7 variant for the first time.
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rwdmtparkingonly 11:21AM (9/29/2006)
You bloody chav; the US owns 3 out of the 7 brands you mentioned. None of the brands you mentioned are British owned; I think your biggest company is now Morgan.
The cars that are actually driven in the UK are front wheel drive crap that isn't often up to US safety and emissions standards, and couldn't touch Japanese quality. On top of it, you have to pay VAT on those sh*tboxes.
22% of Brit kids are overweight compared to 25% of American kids, that's not a huge difference for you to base your cliché "fat American" comments on (http://www.pbs.org/now/science/fit.html). That’s almost as creative as me making fun of your horrible teeth. I'm 1880mm tall and 82kg; check an obesity chart on that.
A turbo V10 in a Rolls Royce basically destroys the brand, so if that's BMW's plan they should give it back to VW.
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JON 11:45AM (9/29/2006)
I'm glad their finally coming out with a smaller Rolls.The size of the current Phantom was really holding me back from my purchase.
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JON 5:48PM (9/29/2006)
Will it have mink carpeting?
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Andy, UK 12:36PM (9/29/2006)
The brands I listed are all indisputably and instinctually British - they could not possibly have originated from another country. Understandably, these brands have proved alluring to foreign car companies - but foreign ownership does not change the fact they are British in origin.
US emissions standards are a worldwide joke - SUV's owned by families that do 12mpg are classified as light trucks to escape emission regulations imposed upon cars. The average fuel economy of a European vehical is in the late 30's, not the early 20's as is the case in America; stringent regulations count for sod all when the figures are as blatantly disparate as that.
As for safety standards, most European buyers are safety conscious, leading manufacturers to develop vehicals that meet strict safety standards regardless of whether imposed upon them to do so or not. Many European cars have achieved a mazimum 5 stars in EURO NCAP crash tests for occupant safety, usually beating the Japanese. Whilst the latest batch of SUV's in America mostly achieve similarly impressive crash scores, which vehical would be more deadly to have a collision with, a Renault Megane or a Chevrolet Tahoe? I find it comical that you have attempted to argue a case for America leading the world in emissions and safety, when your domestic auto manufacturers routinely flout the regulations and continue to use rebates to sell their crap, badly engineered cars.
Toyota, Honda and Nissan have all been selling cars in Europe for longer, in fact, than they have been in America. However, their market share in Europe isn't even 10% between them. If front wheel drive European cars are so shit, why haven't consumers detracted to Japanese brands, as is the case in the US?
And yes, we do pay VAT on our cars - its why we have an NHS. As for obesity, 25% is more than 22%, equalling less fat kids than Britain. Give up!
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rwdmtparkingonly 1:15PM (9/29/2006)
The brands you mentioned are almost the same as a number of German and Italian cars from the period, except with worse quality and design.
I didn't mention Europe once; I'm talking about your crappy island. I like Germany and Italy, especially Germany, but you're just the ugly woman with bad teeth that Germany screws when France isn't available.
Our neighbors to the north have NHS without VAT, and we invented the air bag and catalytic converter. We also have a better quality of life than you according to the UN (http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0778562.html) and The Economist (http://www.economist.com/theworldin/international/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3372495&d=2005).
Go eat some meat pie with your bad teeth.
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Andy, UK 1:44PM (9/29/2006)
Crappy island? Is that why our empire stretched around the globe in the 19th Century? Is that why our language is the internation business language of the world? (and spoken by you new money bastards.) London is the most expensive city in the world to live in for a reason. New money yanks have no cultural heritage and a serious gun problem. You're a bunch of common rednecks that spit and chew gum. British people (and Europeans as a whole) take the piss out of you and your aggressive foreign policy. Bush is a worldwide joke along with his nation of fat, flag waving losers.
You're England and Europe's rejects, hence to fled to America. A lot of people have a shit standard of living in the US - you only have to look at income inequality which is higher than in the UK and Western Europe. Also, its fair to acknowledge that its absurb to make comparisons between one country and a whole continent. Even so, the UK still wins - imagine comparing the UK to Texas! Or Ohio. These are the comical states that make up America. America wasn't even a country 100 or so years ago.
My teeth are pearly white, thanks, and I don't like meat pie. I also don't like McDonalds or Burger King, presumably unlike you, you fat, redneck loser.
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Peter 2:23PM (9/29/2006)
Talk about irrelevant comments!
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rwdmtparkingonly 2:00PM (9/29/2006)
The most ambitious and intelligent Europeans managed to come to America, many countries had to restrict emigration to stop the retreat of valuable citizens to America.
The United States made English the world language and has saved and ruled the world since your empire died.
That's so sad that you have to live in the past because you're just an island and America's lap dog. I'm not a huge fan of the Iraq war but your crap country followed us into it.
Our obesity trends are reversing, in a few years Britain will be the fattest country on Earth. Ugliest, fattest, and worst teeth – not such a great combination for the UK.
If you want to compare countries then compare countries. Stop trying to take good things about other European countries to defend your crappy one. We have the farm land of Ohio and the oil of Texas, but we also have NY, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco and countless other great cities. You just have overpriced, can't drive in it London.
The US has problems, but Britain is worse, the heavily European influenced UN and the British Economist both agree on that.
Go eat some bangers and mash and fix your crooked British face.
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Bill Maher is an Idiot 2:55PM (9/29/2006)
Stop the polity guys--and grow up.
Rolls-Royce offering a new car? Wow. Will it look like all the other land yachts?
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rwdmtparkingonly 3:04PM (9/29/2006)
"Polity" means "a particular form of government", and it makes no sense in your sentence, I think you meant to say politics.
"Bill Maher is an Idiot" shouldn't be complaining about inappropriate politics or tell anyone to grow up.
By the way, you forgot to insert a rimshot after your corny land yacht joke.
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Richard Warren 3:05PM (9/29/2006)
rwdmtparkingonly,Andy, UK,
Boys, boys, take a breath. The real fact is each person likes what they like. Fact is I've been let down a few times by the prince of darkness and domestic engineering and cost cutting. So? The British cars I owned I drove and enjoyed, the domestic cars, I enjoyed and I like my current stock of German cars.
Bad teeth, McDonalds, obese folks, meat pies, really have nothing to do with cars. Fact is every country has it's good cars, bad, cars,skinny and obese folks, positive and negatives. You can make generic remarks about anything, fact is there is no perfect.
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Andy, UK 3:22PM (9/29/2006)
America's lap dog? We actually have an identity. Most people around the world, American's included, concede that America doesn't have a national identity to be proud of (burgers and hot dogs don't count.) I've been to New York and I have to say I love Manhattan. Brooklyn and Queens, though... urgh. Never have I been to such impoverished and ghastly areas, with people to match. And New York is probably America's best city (along with LA.)
The bulk of the people who immigrated to Europe were the poor - people at the bottom of the economic and social order. It explains the arrogance of new money Americans against the better spoken British and more cultured Europeans in general.
You're spouting crap that happens to be untrue. Britain's economy is in a sounder state than America's (your house price boom is gonna collapse pretty soon). The so-called American empire is fragile. Europe has admittedly been in America's shadow economically since WWII. I say Europe, because you cannot compare one country of Europe conclusively against America - which is a whole continent. The UK could never boast as many great cities as America because its one country - Texas is bigger than England. The UK can still hold its own though.. only because its part of Western Europe it TOTALLY kicks the shit out of America. Considering they have a similar population, its a far more suitable comparison. Comparing a continent to another continent? Or is that too much for you to grasp, redneck.
Throughout history, all empires have come to and end: its one of the few certainties of the last 2000 years. Don't forget it, redneck.
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