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2017 Rolls-Royce Model Year Preview and Updates

It's a modest year of change at Rolls-Royce. In fact, the most significant news is the discontinuation of the Phantom VII, while the world (OK, the top 1% of the world) awaits its replacement, with a scheduled debut in 2018. Even with a year of modest updates, Rolls-Royce customers and patrons needn't, as the company's CEO put it, be 'seduced by mass-luxury brands'. DAWN/WRAITH: The convertible and coupe variants of the Ghost platform receive modest updates to trim and available options. Rolls-Royce also introduces a Black Badge variant, targeting – in R-R speak – the 'darker, more assertive, confident and demanding aesthetic of a new ... Rolls-Royce customer'. GHOST: Rolls-Royce's Bespoke service, long a staple among Phantom enthusiasts, has worked its way down the food chain to Ghost prospects. To reluctantly paraphrase Burger King: Have it your way! PHANTOM: As Rolls-Royce prepared for an end-of-the-year build-out of its Phantom, the company built a total of 50 Zenith Edition Coupes and Drophead Coupes, as well as enough sedans to bridge the gap between the Phantom VII's end of production and its 2018 model year launch of its replacement.

Home of Rolls-Royce Collection makes debut at the Quail

Rolls-Royce is marking 10 years of production at its Goodwood, England home, with the aptly named Home of Rolls-Royce Collection. The first instance of the Collection, a brilliantly appointed Phantom, has come to The Quail to make its world debut.
The goal of the Home of Rolls-Royce Collection seems to be to really showcase the kind of pristine, detailed work that the artisans back in Goodood are capable off, while creating a car that almost instantly achieves heirloom status. The Phantom seen here displays a truly impressive wood paneled cabin, where a technique called marquetry has been used to inlay some 170 sections of 11 different types of wood into a "celebration" motif.
You'll find a compass theme throughout the car as well - inside and out - which the company tells us is meant to highlight the sales of Goodwood-built Rollers on five continents across the world. Compass designs can be found on the armrests and center console, with each piece of embroidery taking more than 100,000 stitches to create. Not to be outdone in terms of time lavished, the compass motif painted on the exterior of the car takes one squirrel-hair-brush-wielding craftsman six hours to perfectly apply.

Rolls-Royce's all-electric aircraft completes 15-minute maiden voyage

Rolls-Royce, best known in aviation for its jet engines, has taken an all-electric airplane on its maiden voyage. The "Spirit of Innovation" completed a 15 minute flight, marking "the beginning of an intensive flight-testing phase in which we will be collecting valuable performance data on the aircraft’s electrical power and propulsion system," the company announced.  Rolls-Royce said the one-seat airplane has "the most power-dense battery pack every assembled for an aircraft." The aircraft uses a 6,000 cell battery pack with a three-motor powertrain that currently delivers 400kW (500-plus horsepower), and Rolls-Royce said the aircraft will eventually achieve speeds of over 300 MPH.  This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The flight comes about a year after the originally scheduled takeoff and about six months after taxi trials. Rolls-Royce is also developing an air taxi with manufacturer Tecnam, with the aim of delivering an "all-electric passenger aircraft for the commuter market," according to the companies. It has previously teamed with Siemens and Airbus on another e-plane concept.  Aircraft companies have been exploring electric airplanes for a number of years, as air travel and cargo accounts for an increasing amount of greenhouse gases. The World Wildlife Foundation has called it "currently the most carbon intensive activity an individual can make."  Weight is a much bigger problem for airplanes that it is for cars, however. Ford's all-electric Lightning pickup weighs 1,800 pounds more than the gas-powered model, and offers a range that's slightly under half. However, if you added 1,800 pounds to to a Cessna 206 Turbo Stationair, you'd exceed its useful load by 500 pounds before you even loaded passengers (or the pilot) — so it wouldn't even get off the ground.  The project was half funded by the Aerospace Technology Institute and UK government, with the aim of eventually creating all-electric passenger planes. "This is not only about breaking a world record; the advanced battery and propulsion technology developed for this programme has exciting applications for the Urban Air Mobility market and can help make ‘jet zeroÂ’ a reality," said Rolls-Royce CEO Warren East. This article by S. Dent originally appeared on Engadget. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.