2024 Rolls-royce Ghost on 2040-cars

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Trump reportedly says he wants to wipe German cars off the U.S. map

BERLIN/FRANKFURT — A report that U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to pursue German carmakers until there are no Mercedes-Benz rolling down New York's Fifth Avenue dented shares in the luxury car manufacturers on Thursday. An excerpt from German magazine Wirtschaftswoche's article, which cited several unnamed European and U.S. diplomats but did not include any direct quotes, could not be independently verified, while a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Berlin referred questions to Washington. The news and current affairs magazine said Trump had told French President Emmanuel Macron in April that he aimed to push German carmakers out of the United States altogether. Macron's administration in Paris declined to comment on the report. The Trump administration last week opened a so-called Section 232 trade investigation into vehicle imports, which could result in a 25 percent tariff on cars on the same "national security" grounds Washington used to impose metals duties in March. This could destroy exports by German carmakers, which control 90 percent of the U.S. premium market and are the biggest European Union exporters of cars to the United States. BMW owns Rolls-Royce, while Daimler has Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen controls Bentley, Bugatti, Porsche and Audi. Daimler, BMW and Audi declined comment. Porsche was not immediately available for comment. BMW shares were trading 0.5 percent lower at 0939 GMT, while Daimler and VW's shares were down 1 percent and 1.6 percent respectively, underperforming Germany's blue-chip DAX. Trump has railed against German carmakers before. And in early 2017, in an interview with German newspaper Bild, he said he would impose 35 percent tariffs on imported cars. At the time, the president called Germany a great car producer but said that the business relationship with the United States was an unfair one-way street. Germany's auto industry association VDA says its members exported 657,000 vehicles to North America last year, with total exports of vehicle components, cars, engines, as well as second-hand vehicles totaling 31.2 billion euros in 2016. Imports from the United States to Germany amounted to 7.4 billion euros, meaning a trade deficit of 23.8 billion euros the VDA's latest available figures show. However, German brands also have huge factories in the United States, where they built 804,000 cars last year, VDA said, providing jobs for U.S. workers. Berlin has reacted angrily to the U.S.

Rolls-Royce Ghost Series II represents a host of subtle tweaks

It's not every day that an automaker admits in its own words that a new generation of one of its models is a "subtle redesign," but that's exactly how Rolls-Royce is describing the changes made to its Ghost Series II. Most of the bodywork has seen very light resculpting, including what the brand is calling a tapered "wake channel" that starts just behind the beloved Spirit of Ecstacy's wings evoking "the sight of a jet's vapour trail" and "hinting at the car's dynamism."
So much does Rolls-Royce want to emphasize the Ghost Series II's so-called dynamism that it uses the descriptor a total of eight times in the press release that you're welcome to read below. Looking past that all-too-current buzzword, what we see here is clearly a Rolls-Royce, clearly an ultra-luxury sedan and clearly desirable.
Rest assured, prospective buyers will see all the latest technology inside the new Ghost's interior, including a 10.25-inch high-definition screen and a Spirit of Ecstacy Rotary Controller so as not to "leave unsightly fingerprints at driver and passenger eye level." Of course, plenty of customization is available for the most discerning of buyers, and two new wood veneer options are available - Paldao and Walnut Burr Crossband.

Rolls-Royce hosts first ‘Cars and Cognac’ event in the U.K.

For more than 100 years, Rolls-Royce has produced some of the world's most desirable and expensive automobiles. The British automaker has now gone one step further, by instantly making any future "cars and coffee" gatherings pale in comparison to the brand's first-ever "Cars and Cognac" event, held June 8, in the U.K. Yes, we're guessing our invitation got lost in the mail, too. "The 'cars and cognac' meet demonstrated the wonderful spirit of our customers as well as their deep passion for the brand," said Julian Jenkins, regional director for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. "This evening was reflective of the rich dialogue between Rolls-Royce and its patrons; a truly unique and extremely rare relationship, one which we are privileged to nurture." We couldn't help but notice the comment about "rich dialogue," which is fitting for a brand whose least expensive offering, the Ghost sedan, starts at roughly $300,000. The evening borrowed heavily from California car culture, where cars and coffee meet-ups can see anything from slammed economy cars, customized muscle cars, or hyper-cars with multimillion-dollar prices gather at the same place. Of course, very few — i.e. none whatsoever — have featured cognac tastings conducted out of a customized Rolls-Royce-endorsed picnic basket. That's correct, a sommelier stationed at the tail-end of a Phantom sedan was handing out quaffs of fine cognac courtesy of an official Rolls-Royce Picnic Hamper. This is a thing, and you know you want one. Other cars making a cameo appearance during dinner included a Rolls-Royce Dawn Black Badge fitted with the new "Aero Cowling." This hard tonneau cover fits snugly over the rear seats, to give the 593-horsepower convertible the look of a true two-seater. The event was held at the Soho Farmhouse, a member's only club located on a 100-acre property in Oxfordshire, approximately two hour's drive northwest from central London. On its homepage, Soho Farmhouse details its indoor and outdoor pools, multiple club rooms for special events, tennis courts, horse stables, football pitch (that's soccer for you silly Americans), and the intriguingly named Electric Barn Cinema. The entry-level membership, called Local House, with access only to the Soho Farmhouse facility, starts at about $1,700 at current exchange rates. To have access to all Soho House properties around the globe, the price runs around $2,200 (depending on whether your membership application is accepted).