Autoblog

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]

We figured the new baby Rolls might increase sales, but Rolls-Royce is saying it expects the car to double output to 1,600 units when the junior model debuts in 2010. That model's design has finally been approved according to R-R CEO Ian Robertson. As we told you earlier, the new model should be getting its own platform with a V8 and possibly the Phantom's V12 as an option. We certainly can't get up the nerve to refer to it as an entry-level Rolls, with prices expected to run between 200,000 and 300,000 euros, or about $260,000 to $400,000 currently.

It took Rolls several years to hit the 3,000 Phantom sales mark, so when Robertson says they don't intend to compete with the volume brands, we believe him. Extra production will come from adding a second shift at the Goodwood factory. While he wouldn't give any further details on the lower-priced model, Robertson did say that it will be unmistakably Rolls-Royce. He also said that the new Phantom Drophead Coupe convertible we first saw in Detroit is officially sold out through 2008. We should start seeing them on the road in August, Stateside.

[Source: Automotive News, sub. req'd]