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Not every Rolls-Royce Cullinan Black Badge comes in black

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — When Rolls-Royce recently unveiled the Cullinan Black Badge, the released press photos were of a very black car in a very black environment. But that did not match the car that was actually shown to the press. Quite the opposite, actually. The small event at the BMW Zentrum factory in South Carolina took place at night under a set of bright lights, and the car that came through the curtain wore a bright white body. We were fortunate enough to spend a brief time with the white Black Badge and snapped some photos of its details. As a reminder, all Black Badges have upgraded performance on top of the altered visual cues. Its twin-turbocharged 6.75-liter V8 has been upgraded to make 600 horsepower and 664 lb-ft of torque, and the brakes, suspension and exhaust have been retuned as well. We spent an extremely limited amount of time in the Black Badge, so we cannot offer full comments about how it drives, but we can say the exhaust offers a nice insulated grumble in "Low" mode, the quickness off the line doesn't make any sense for a vehicle its size (trust us, it is huge), and it seemed controlled while cruising up the curves onto the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina, where these photos were taken.  The white paint exaggerates the parts Rolls-Royce darkens on all Black Badge models. The Spirit of Ecstasy, the grille surround, the inverted badging, the side frame finishers, the trunk handle, the trunk trim, the lower air inlet finisher, and the exhaust pipes have all gone black. Inside, this particular Cullinan has a red leather interior with patterned carbon fiber accents. It also has light contrast stitching, which includes infinity signs, a symbol used on Sir Malcolm Campbell's Rolls-Royce-powered Blue Bird K3 hydroplane. Check out all the details, including the built-in event seats in the trunk, in our massive gallery above. Featured Gallery White Rolls-Royce Black Badge Cullinan View 55 Photos Design/Style Rolls-Royce Luxury rolls-royce cullinan

Stretched Rolls-Royce Cullinan is luxury in excess

If the Cullinan SUV wasn't Rolls-Royce enough for you before, then this stretched version from Klassen should assuage any of those doubts. Listed for $2.08 million, it's a far cry from the Cullinan's base price of $325,000. Klassen makes a number of stretched luxury vehicles, but this is the first time we've seen the Cullinan get modified like so. As a nod to its customer base, possibly, this long SUV is given the company's highest level of ballistic protection — B7. That means the thickness of the ballistic steel is 14.5 millimeters thick at minimum, providing protection from armor-piercing rifles and ammunition. The stretch measures 40 inches in length, which makes the Rolls look considerably larger, but not unwieldy. Occupants will be treated to the highest of luxuries including an iMac multimedia center (yes, an actual Apple desktop computer), Bang and Olufsen sound system and special ambient LED lighting — all of which is controllable via an iPhone. Klassen also says that the passengers can ride privately behind a "luxury partition wall." Looking at the "wall" in its other creations, it appears to create the ultimate in private riding for when you just can't stand to be interrupted by your driver. Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of the Cullinan's "wall." Its closest competitor is probably the stretched Bentley Bentayga, also made by Klassen. But why go for that when you can have the Rolls SUV instead? Featured video: Featured Gallery Klassen Rolls-Royce Cullinan stretched Auto News Read This Rolls-Royce SUV Luxury

BMW profit of $2.7B is down as automaker invests to keep luxury lead

Despite selling 6.6-percent more vehicles - a record by volume - and posting higher revenues in the second quarter of 2013, BMW Group's profit of 2.07 million euros ($2.75 billion) is down 8.8 percent from last year. Investments in new technology (e.g. the new i3) and personnel, in addition to a competitive market, are to blame, BMW states. But the automaker remains committed to its fiscal targets for 2013, which, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Norbert Reithofer, says will be "on a similar scale to 2012."
The BMW brand's sales performance in the first half of the year, which increased by 7.7 percent to 804,258 vehicles delivered, was good enough for it to maintain its lead in the luxury market, narrowly beating Audi, which delivered 780,510 vehicles, Automotive News reports. Mercedes-Benz delivered 694,433 vehicles to cement third place.