Autoblog

Click image above for high-res live gallery of the new RR Coupe from Geneva

Perhaps calling it a true GT might have been a bit of a stretch, but with changes to the chassis, steering, brakes and suspension, Rolls Royce promised that this new Phantom Coupe would take Rolls into a new market. Appearing very similar to the concept 101EX that debuted in 2006, the Coupe and its Drophead brother are also expanding the bottom line for RR. Sales for RR were a huge 1010 for 2007. This new model and the Drophead that it follows are taking on the Bentley Continental GT and GTC challenge with more of a focus on the driver. With help from parent BMW, it's understandable that these cars might be a little better on winding roads than one might suspect. We'll have to wait until we get one in the AB garage to make our final judgment. What isn't being debated here is the fact that the coupe is a gorgeous car. Perhaps even nicer looking than its convertible sibling. While the car itself is a beautiful piece of rolling sculpture, the gray color and standard wheels shown on the first production model today didn't do much to show it off. When they opened the suicide doors, however, it really didn't matter anymore. This thing has Style with a capital "S" and that's what it takes to succeed in this niche.

Full press release after the jump and full high-res gallery available by clicking any one of these images.

Click above to enlarge

The Autoblog crew is setting off for Geneva to bring you all the goodies, and along with the wealth of exciting new production cars and concepts, there'll be a whole mess of customized tuner cars, as well. Usually the latter comes after the former, but in this one case both will be arriving together as Castagna has prepared its own take on the new Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe.

Following the lead of its own Rolls-Royce-inspired Gran Tourer Sport concept from last year's show, the Castagna Phantom Coupe Royale replaces the Phantom's aluminum and steel hood, trunk-lid and pillars with polished carbon fiber bits. The Italian carrozzeria has also worked its magic on the Roller's 6.75-liter V12, boosting output from 453 hp up to 600. As is apparent from the photo above, Castagna has also fitted its own rims, but while other aftermarket firms scramble to find new ways of hinging doors, Castagna appears to have reversed the Phantom's portals to open in the more conventional fashion. We'll be on hand to see the Phantom Royale concept, along with Castagna's wood-sided Clubman and 500, from the show floor over the next few days.

[Source: Italiaspeed]

click above for high-res gallery of the Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe

Rolls-Royce has released pics of the Phantom Coupé, and if any one from Rolls is reading this, you can sign us up for one in every color. And we don't mean the standard colors -- we mean every single color. Sure, the car only has two doors, but even we still experience a bit of a catch when calling this car -- all eighteen-and-a-half feet of it -- a coupe. Which is why we don't: we call it a "coupé." That final accent, like the Alpine summits in the above picture, puts the car in its proper perspective: that of the Jazz Age gentleman racer hopping from Antibes to Nice for dinner with the Polish Countess and a moonlight sail.

Descended from the 101EX concept, the Coupé is nearly all-aluminum on an aluminum spaceframe, with steel apparent in only the A-pillar surround, the hood, and the picnic boot. Behind the raked grill of the Coupé resides the by now well known 6.75-liter V12 with 453-HP and 530 lb-ft to pull its 5,798 pounds. The back end of the car comes up 250mm short of the Phantom's length and manages to pull out a BMW-like 49:51 weight distribution. To keep up those kinds of driver's car credentials, the rear dampers are stiffer, there's a thicker anti-roll bar, and the steering has been given some additional feel. A Sport button on the new, thicker steering wheel enacts a new shift program that holds gears longer, the autobox kicks down faster, and the pedal response is quicker. With the changes, sixty comes up in a rather sporting 5.6 seconds. Three choices of 21-inch wheels will be offered, two of them forged alloy numbers.

Inside are all of the usual Rolls-Royce accoutrements, but the only two words you need to remember are: "starlight headliner." You might not want to have it on all the time, but as a showstopper it will certainly do the trick. But don't take our word for it: the full press release is after the jump, and check out the gallery of hi-res images below.


[Source: Rolls-Royce]

Click image for a photo gallery of the Rolls-Royce 101EX

In his speech on BMW's future plans, CEO Norbert Reithofer mentioned that a Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe is on the way. Today, Rolls-Royce made its official announcement confirming this new addition to the Phantom lineup. If the eye-popping Phantom Drophead Coupe is any indication, the new, enclosed Phantom Coupe should be a dead ringer for the 101EX concept car that previewed it back during the 2006 Geneva show. Power will be identical to the other Phantom models, with 450 horses and 531 lb-ft of torque coming from the car's 6.75L V12. According to Rolls-Royce, the Phantom Coupe will be more driver-oriented than the sedan, with a shorter body and suspension/power tuning that places a slight emphasis on sport compared to its siblings. The Phantom Coupe will complete the Phantom lineup for Rolls-Royce, giving its customers a car for every occasion. It will be priced somewhere between the Phantom and Phantom Drophead Coupe.

This also seems like as good a time as any to inform you that we recently had the 2007 Rolls-Royce Phantom in the Autoblog Garage (that's it at right). Check back on Monday for the full review and photo gallery, and if you need to catch up on the recent vehicles we've had come through, click here to see what you might have missed.

[Source: Rolls-Royce]

Just announced earlier this morning by BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer, this mule for the upcoming Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe was spotted wearing the disguise of a drop top. We're told not to let the convertible looks fool us, as this is not the already available Phantom Drophead Coupe. It is, however, remarkably similar to the 101EX Concept unveiled at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show. The production version should feature the Phantom's massive 6.75L V12 engine producing prodigious amounts of power in the neighborhood of 450 to 500 HP. Whereas the Drophead Coupe is a cruiser, expect the Phantom Coupe to be a driver's car unlike anything we've seen from Rolls-Royce in recent memory. That is, until a new line of smaller, less expensive Rolls-Royce models begin rolling out of Goodwood to take on the Bentley Continentals of the world.

[Source: World Car Fans]

click above image for gallery of the BMW CS Concept, which is destined for production

BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer revealed the automaker's plans for the future, all the way up to 2020. There's lots of stuff in works, but we'll try to hit each point here. First off, the company's got a short-term five-year plan of achieving annual sales of 1.8 million vehicles by 2012. After that, it will have another eight years to reach annual sales of 2 million by 2020. Those are big jumps from today, but BMW plans to reach them by increasing production at its Spartanburg plant in the U.S., as well as the MINI plant in Oxford. Of course, the growing Chinese market will also demand more BMWs, and the automaker will be happy to oblige.

Increasing production of what's currently offered in BMW dealerships won't get the automaker all that far, so a slew of new vehicles were also announced by Reithofer. These include expanding BMW's range of SUVs with a small X1 model, as well as producing a four-door Gran Turismo car based off of the CS Concept that debuted in Shanghai this year. The BMW brand will also debut what it calls a Progressive Activity Sedan, or PAS, about which it divulged little, so we'll have to wait for more details on exactly what makes it different from a standard sedan.

Find out the rest of BMW's new models after the jump, as well as the very long speech from BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer in its entirety.

[Source: BMW]