Looking for a spectacularly useless way to waste some time? Online car configurators are one of our favorites. You can sit for an hour or more playing with different color combinations and options on a car you're never going to buy, and have absolutely nothing to show for it when you're done. The most alluring are the configurators for the most exclusive European exotica, but typically automakers don't launch these until the car's on the market, or at least has been unveiled in production form. Rolls-Royce, however, has evidently decided to jump the (nickel-plated, mother-of-pearl-handled) gun in putting online a configurator for the 200EX, the concept car that previewed the upcoming Ghost model at the Geneva show this past March.

Labeled the "visualizer", the utility is available for all your distracting, time-wasting needs on the 200EX mini-site. There you can play around with different color and trim choices inside and out, right down to the "silver satin bonnet". Enjoy, but don't come complaining to us when you haven't gotten any work done.




[Source: Rolls-Royce]

Without catching anyone off guard, an exterior stylist for Rolls-Royce disclosed that the company is planning both coupe and convertible variants of its upcoming all-new Ghost sedan. Andreas Thurner, responsible for penning the new four-door, told Autocar that, "...the Ghost was designed in a way to make other body styles... we have to build up a family for the Ghost just as we did for the Phantom." The coupe and cabriolet models have yet to receive any official go-ahead for production, but history is on their side.

Rolls-Royce has confirmed that the new model will receive an "intelligent" four-corner air suspension that will read multiple sensor inputs and make individual load calculations every 2.5 milliseconds. It is reportedly so sensitive that it can detect where passengers are seated and when they move about within the cabin. In addition, the air suspension will raise or lower the vehicle by 25mm (a.k.a. "the lift and kneel" function) to compensate for squat and dive, improve ground clearance, and ease entry for the soon-to-be coddled passengers. Hand-build at the company's Goodwood plant in the U.K., production is set to start later this year.



[Source: Autocar]

The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost will not only mean more sales for the company, it will mean more workers. Rolls is adding 300 production workers to the payroll, bringing its Sussex workforce to 900. The majority of new positions will be in the wood, leather and paint shops, but there will be assembly positions opening up as well since the Ghost gets its own line. It might not be the best time to bring a top-end luxury sedan to market, but it is a very good time to apply for a job, and Rolls wants to fill them over the next few months. If you have a luxurious way with wood, leather, or paint (or all three), you can peruse the job openings on the Rolls-Royce site, www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com.

Asian consumers loves them some baroque styling. How else to explain the popularity of gaudy, over-the-top couture in the continent's major city centers? Indeed, how else to explain the existence of cars like the Mitsuoka Galue S50 and Galue 204? Proving that the love affair is still very much still alive is this, the Geely Excellence (GE) Limousine.

Despite the obvious aping of traditional Rolls-Royce styling cues (square-rigged waterfall grille, Spirit of Imitation Ecstasy hood ornament, wool carpets, etc.) there is some innovation here, in the form of the rear seat "throne," a kingly perch that forms the literal centerpoint of the car's unorthodox 1+2 seating arrangement.

In any case, the 17.5-foot Goliath is widely expected to be the first offering from Geely's new sub-brand, YingLun, or ENGLON (a melding of "England" and "London), but for the moment, the Chinese automaker is stopping short of confirming production.




Photos copyright © 2009 IceBin / Weblogs, Inc

[Source: Autoblog China]

Historically, Rolls-Royce has somewhat smugly declined to quote horsepower numbers, utilizing amusingly evasive language like "entirely sufficient" to describe its engines' power outputs. Perhaps a sign of the times, Rolls is now being a bit more forthcoming about details for its upcoming "baby" RR4 model, including approximate horsepower numbers.

The company has disclosed that the RR4 will be powered by a new, 6.6-liter turbocharged V12 engine that gives "upwards of 500bhp." Further, it will route that prodigious output through a ZF transmission with no less than eight forward ratios. Despite its ability to generate big power figures, Rolls says that one important drivetrain figure will be smaller than any other Rolls on the market: C02 output.

The news came from CEO Tom Purves himself at a New York press event for the 200EX, where the Geneva concept car is making its first stop on a world tour designed to get prospective clients in the car and booking orders for the production RR4 version.

The BMW-owned British automaker has long been famous for its peerless interiors and isolated ride, but Purves promises that the RR4 will bring with it a new emphasis on driving entertainment: "... we have consciously engineered this car to be more involving and dynamic for those owners around the world that will wish to drive it themselves."

While we don't expect Porsche Cayman-baiting dynamics, we look forward to seeing what the company views as more involved driving dynamics when the car starts rolling out the front doors of its Goodwood production facility. Official press release after the jump.



[Source: Rolls-Royce]

Despite the fact that Rolls Royce is still calling its 200EX (aka RR4) a concept, the vehicle that debuted at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month is, in reality, a thinly disguised future production model that could possibly revive the Silver Ghost nameplate from the early 1900s. According to the European rumormill, the brand may be considering expanding the new downsized range with coupe and droptop versions that would all be based on the same architecture that's been borrowed from the latest BMW 7 Series.

We can't speak to the voracity of these rumors, but the move does seem to make sense as it would follow the same pattern that RR took with its larger Phantom range. In any case, we're expecting a production model based on the 200EX concept to bow later this year at the Frankfurt Motor Show.




[Source: Auto Telegraaf]

This week, Sam and Chris return from a short hiatus for some fun with a Rolls Royce and a BMW 750Li. After we get all the iDrive carping out of our systems, we move on to what we might see at the Geneva Motor Show, touch briefly on the Autoblog Garage, and finish up with a dandy little bailout/bankruptcy argument. Thanks for listening, and please keep your notes coming in to Podcast at Autoblog dot com, we're going to do another all-questions edition soon. See you next week!

Follow the jump to subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes, add the show to your RSS aggregator or listen to it right now!

Following today's embargo debacle, Rolls-Royce has finally released the official details and images of its baby Roller, the 200EX. The name draws its inspiration from the "experimental" prototypes that Rolls created during the pre-war era, but this version is more modern and has its sights set on the Bentley Continental Flying Spur.

While Rolls-Royce has deemed the Geneva-bound 200EX a concept, expect almost every exterior and interior detail to carry over to the production model when it arrives in 2010. However, the alphanumeric moniker will be replaced with something more traditional (think some variation of the words Spirit, Shadow or Cloud).

The styling is quintessential Rolls, pulling all the best cues from the Phantom and Drophead Coupe and fitting them into a decidedly smaller package. Based off the latest BMW 7 series platform, the 200EX spans 212.6 inches long, 83 inches wide and 61 inches tall, with a wheelbase of 129.7 inches. A new air suspension system hides behind the seven-spoke, 20-inch wheels, with the front hoops wrapped in 255/45 tires and the rears coated in 285/40 rubber. Rolls remains mum on engine details, only saying that the 200EX is powered by a new V12.

Inside you'll find all the top-rate, high-dollar trinkets that makes Rolls-Royce the standard of the luxury motoring world, including frosted lamps, chrome door handles, violin key switchgear and an ergonomic roller-ball controller to manipulate the car's systems.

While we're anxiously awaiting the official unveiling at the Geneva Motor Show next month, expect the production variant of the 200EX to bow at the Frankfurt Motor Show later this year. Make the jump for all the details.

The oft-spied Rolls-Royce RR4 finally has a name -- 200 EX -- and will be unveiled in concept form at the Geneva Motor Show in a couple of weeks. The 200EX will be a new, smaller model to slot in below the current Phantom sedan and coupe, riding on a new platform and with an all-new engine. The underpinnings are believed to be derived from the just launched 7 Series and may be powered by a newly designed V12 engine. If 12 cylinders are employed, the engine will not be a variant of the motor used in the Phantom, but an all-new design.

Judging from the teaser, Rolls-Royce is sticking with the lower wider grille look that debuted on the 100EX and then the Phantom coupes and lighting is likely to come from a full LED array rather than the usual xenons. Steel is believed to replace much of the aluminum used in the Phantom for improved durability and a power closing "coach" doors will carry over from the Phantom. We should be seeing more complete photographs and other details of the 200EX in the coming days.

[Source: World Car Fans]

It's hard to feel bad for something as stately as the Rolls-Royce Phantom sedan, but the model that relaunched the most distinguished of British automakers under BMW's patronage has soldiered on without a complaint while all the others got the attention. Since its introduction in 2003, the Phantom has spawned the Coupe and Drophead versions, as well as the Extended Wheelbase model. And with the Silver Ghost due to arrive soon, the Phantom must have started to feel a little left out.

But Rolls-Royce isn't about to forget its core product, so it's giving the Phantom a mild update for the 2009 model year, just to show they care. On the outside, the revised Phantom gets a new bumper with a shallower stainless steel grille like those on its two-door compatriots. Rolls has also added such luxury touches as LED lights in the door handles and three new sets of aluminum wheels for customers to choose from. Inside, the impossibly luxurious cabin gets some updates to the entertainment system and redesigned interior door panels. Full details are available in the press release after the jump, with photos in the gallery below.