2011 Rolls Royce Ghost on 2040-cars

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BMW shuffles chairs in its design department

BMW Group has made some changes to its design team since August 1, and has shuffled top personnel to different positions at BMW Design, Mini Design and Rolls-Royce.
The BMW Design team led by Karim Habib (middle, right) gains a new head of Exterior Design in Domagoj Dukec (right), who has worked for the exterior design team since 2010 and shaped the Concept Active Tourer.
Oliver Heilmer (left), who has worked for BMW's interior design unit since 2000 and designed the 5 Series interior, replaces Marc Girard as head of Interior Design BMW Automobiles. Marc Girard goes to manage BMW's subsidiary design group, BMW DesignworksUSA.

Rolls-Royce bestows Canton Glory Ghost upon Guangzhou

Wonder why Rolls-Royce makes so many special editions for the Chinese market? Probably because China is fast becoming its largest market, with the dealerships in Beijing and Shanghai regularly proving able to move more high-end metal than any other Rolls dealer in the world. Little wonder then that, less than two months after releasing the Golden Sunbird edition, Rolls-Royce Bespoke is back again with another special Ghost just for China.
This time it's called the Canton Glory edition. It was introduced recently at Auto Guangzhou, and pays tribute to the Canton Tower in the same city. Two examples were made with a two-tone color scheme contrasting burgundy with either a blueish silver or white. Other features include Guangzhou's Five Rams emblem in the coachline, veneer panels, headrests and dashboard.
We don't doubt Rolls will find (or probably already has found) a pair of Chinese industrialists to gladly take these special editions home. But for those looking for their own unique touches, the British automaker has also brought its Bespoke Atelier to China for the first time, outlining the range of possibilities open to their moneyed customers.

Rolls-Royce sketching out SUV for possible 'late 2017' release

With each new story on the Rolls-Royce SUV, the Goodwood automaker comes off as more at ease with their reluctantly birthed yet necessary sport ute. Company design chief Giles Taylor told Autocar that his team is still "sketching to assess the viability of the concept," which to ours ears means they're trying to figure out if such a beast is even possible within the confines of the brand. If it is, Taylor says it will be "a shooting brake, not a crossover with a sloping roof. A proper SUV."
A different company source, unnamed, seems confident that Taylor's team will figure it out, telling the magazine it would start at 200,000 pounds ($335K US). However, that same source said the vehicle will be "a kind of Mercedes-GLK-plus-plus," which is a baffling description in several ways. More reasonable is the speculation that it will ride on Ghost, not Phantom, architecture and make its debut sometime around late 2017.
That Ghost platform is expected to take cues from the carbon, aluminum and steel bones that supported the BMW Vision Future Luxury concept shown at the Beijing Motor Show and destined for the 9 Series. Some of those tricks will also go into the next-generation Phantom, which Autocar says will come in 2017 and not 2020.