R.R. exec sheds more light on smaller Roller
Looks like quite a few nuggets came out of the Shanghai Auto Show this week, many of them from BMW. BMW already scored some bigtime headlines with their CS Concept, but it looks like there was big news from corporate cousin Rolls-Royce, too. Chairman and CEO Ian Robertson told reporters that Rolls-Royce plans to launch its new "smaller" model by the end of the decade. Talk of a baby Roller has persisted, but this appears to be the first public acknowledgment of an entry-level model with some specific time frame and pricing info.
"We are working on a smaller car," Robertson said, "A relatively smaller car." We don't know how much smaller it will be than the Phantom, but the pricetag is expected to be one-third smaller. The car should slot in between the Phantom and 7-Series, at least until a production version of the CS appears. A smaller, cheaper Rolls could help the company double their current sales volume of about 800 cars annually. A second assembly line will be added in an update to the Goodwood plant to handle the new model. Shanghai was an appropriate locale for the announcement as China has the second largest dealer network behind only the United States. The number of Chinese dealers will grow to seven when two more are added in the next year or so.
[Source: Reuters]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
BOB 10:32PM (4/23/2007)
...."BABY ROLLER"?
Maybe they can take over the Jag X-type tooling and change the grille, lol.
Actually, everyone know it will be a very large car, by European standards, to complement the very huge Phantom. I dont see Rolls making a $2XX,000 car that is not as commodious as a Mercedes S Class, do you?
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Barney 11:32PM (4/23/2007)
I guess as long as it's expensive, it don't matter what size it is. It'll have to be ostentatious though.
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Graham 8:55AM (4/24/2007)
the baby roller is a Rolls-Royce tradition in a way, theyve come out with a few during their history, and i can see this being a very good move for them, they just need to worry that the increased sales will decrease the exclusivity which is one of their selling points
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Samuel Fieldhouse 7:47PM (4/24/2007)
I wondered what all the building wirk at goodwood was for. I live about two miles away and theres been a lot of activity there recently.
Living so close, we see a lot of them. I drove past the new coupe the other day, a blue one. was beautiful, though it completely dwarfed my citroen 2cv!
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