All Entries Tagged With: "101EX"

Rolls Royce Ghost: Details Waft In. Gently.

By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG RR

SOME months have passed since the Rolls-Royce Ghost’s (né 101EX, a.k.a. “Baby Rolls”) intro and we’ve heard little from Goodwood about Ghost developments.

Yours can confirm that last autumn Rolls-Royce’s small marketing team paraded the Ghost around these United States in a whirlwind tour to showcase what will be Rolls-Royce’s bread and butter “entry” model to potential and current Rolls clientele.

So far, only CAR magazine has actually reviewed the new Roller.

With production set to produce road going stock later this year, what’s left to know is just what’s available to the public on the Rolls-Royce website. The details are tantalizing, if incomplete.

Let’s delve, shall we?

Stock colo(u)r options smartly range from “Diamond Black” to “Claret”; Austrian bull hides tanned in anything from “Dark Spice” to “Moccasin”; and wood veneers as exotic as “Malabar” to “Dark Wenge”. To wit- Rolls promises slick decadence.

The Ghost’s weight curbside will be on the same scale as the much-larger Phantom – 5,445 lbs (compared to 5,798 lbs). Performance, though, will be swifter: 0-60 mph happens in 4.8 seconds (compared to 5.7 seconds).

This step up is thanks to the 563 hp V12 that takes aim at the Bentley Continental series. It also eclipses the pricier Phantom by more than 100 ponies. Still, despite this righteous power, the Ghost is classified as ULEV II.

Oddly, MPG figures have yet to be published. Not that the Rolls client would care, but us enthusiasts do.

As Rolls-Royce increases output, (1,700 Ghost inquiries worldwide, according to The Times) the bulk of new orders are likely to be Ghosts. Whether this will undermine Phantom sales (hopefully not, but probably) and, for that matter, rival Bentley Continental Flying Spur sales, remains to be seen.

Watch this space.

January 07, 2010 | Gunnar | Comments 1

The Corniche & Camargue > In Which Way Could History Repeat Itself @ Rolls-Royce?

A bold new direction for Rolls in 1966.

Some interesting tidbits on the original Rolls-Royce Corniche found in Classic & Sports Car:

When the convertible made its original debut back in TYOL Nineteen Hundred Sixty Six, the gentle folk at Crewe ascribed the moniker “Park Ward two-door.”

Lacking romance in nomenclature, the title was binned in favor of the elegant “Corniche,” thereby giving would-be buyers a visualization of where the car belonged – even if the actual rag-top being sold was located just off the Garden State Parkway.

The iconic Greek temple grille is actually pitched at a three degree angle for a more sporting visage.

The Corniche was a trailblazer for Rolls in the 1960s. A dramatic departure from the standard steel Silver Clouds to the newer and smaller Silver Shadow platforms. Inevitably, some clients were left behind – or – stuck with the Phantom V limo.

It was a time of radical change for Crewe. Funny how history repeats itself.

Goodwood is in the midst of a radical and (so far) economically successful transformation of its operations and will be further testing the boundaries where tradition once drew bold lines.

Aside from increasing its manufacturing capacity to accommodate a smaller Rolls sedan, there will be a segue to a more driver-friendly Rolls-Royce.

The new direction; a potentially volatile blend of modern luxury interpretation v. strong tradition, boundary testing, and design foresight is playing out as we speak with the addition of the Phantom Drophead Coupé and next year’s Phantom Fixed-Head Coupé (101EX).

Bold modernism? Or reckless disregard for tradition?

It’s worth noting the successful history of the Corniche (nee Park Ward two-door) in this modern context. The Corniche could have failed miserably along with the entire Silver Shadow line. And, indeed the next segue that was supposed to transform the marque – the Camargue – was a complete disaster. The Camargue’s grille, incidentally was much more sharply raked than the Corniche’s modest three degrees.

The ’70s Camargue failed to proceed on more accounts than just the obvious.

Squinty eyed, with sloping inset grilles, the new generation of two-doors are set to alter the marque’s image and appeal in an even more radical way than the Phantom managed at restoring its no-holds-barred grandeur. And to be sure, these new designs represent an aesthetic challenge to any of the marque’s traditionalist fans.

By the numbers, Rolls has never been so successful – so the new two-door lineup will work for the company in real fiscal terms.

But what of the heritage aspect? What of taste? Does Rolls’ new heading wind toward that same slippery slope of compromise-for-ca$h that dragged Mercedes-Benz down in the 1990s? Will there be the same insurrection that the Camargue brought?

Or will we see the Phantom Drophead and Fixed Head Coupés in the same reverential light as most now view the old Park Ward two-door?

October 15, 2007 | Gunnar | Comments 8