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Rolls-Royce teases Wraith debut in Geneva

Rolls-Royce is headed to the 2013 Geneva Motor Show with a new addition to its lineup: the Wraith. The ultra-luxury automaker says it plans to start deliveries by the fourth quarter of this year, though details are scarce at the moment. The automaker has contented itself with saying the Wraith will the "most dynamic, powerful and beautiful Rolls-Royce in the company's history." We hear it will be the most modest, too.
Rolls-Royce first began using the Wraith nameplate in 1938. The original car used a tweaked version of the 4.3-liter inline six-cylinder found in the company's 25/30, but its real claim to fame came from the fact that it boasted speed-variable hydraulic dampers. Capable of reaching speeds of up to 85 miles per hour, Rolls-Royce only built 492 examples of the vehicle's chassis.
You can look for the new Wraith to bow at the Geneva Motor Show in March. In the interim, check out the shockingly bare press release below and get ready for a spate of teasers to follow.

Rolls-Royce Wraith convertible spied sliding in the snow

Rolls-Royce may be on the verge of producing its first crossover, but it's a different prototype we're looking at here, frolicking in the snow. It's the convertible version of the Wraith, which Rolls-Royce is preparing to join the existing fastback coupe and the Ghost sedan in its "entry-level" lineup. Only we don't expect it to be called the Wraith Drophead Coupe like its larger counterpart, the Phantom DHC, but to go with an entirely different name (just as the aforementioned fastback took to distinguish itself from the sedan). Expect Goodwood to pull another suitably poltergeist-related nameplate from its archives (or from the netherworld) to slap on its new drop-top. Otherwise, we can expect the Wraith convertible (or whatever it's ultimately called) to closely mirror its fixed-roof counterpart, complete with suicide doors and a 6.6-liter twin-turbo V12, when it arrives sometime in the middle of next year. Related Video:

The hottest modern sports cars rendered as rally racers

The modern-day World Rally Championship a monumental amount of fun to watch – I should know, as I recently was lucky enough to head to the UK to watch WRC Wales Rally GB – but even the most monstrous of the current WRC cars are based on fairly pedestrian European hatchbacks. Back in the heyday of rally, the Group B era in the 1980s, much hotter cars were the basis of even more incredible competition machines, for the most part. Take the exotic Ford RS200, or the Lancia Delta S4 with its twin-charged engine. And the hatchback-based Group B cars were bonkers, too. So what would some of our favorite modern cars look like if Group B had never ended? A British site named CarWow hired an artist to reimagine everything from the Rolls-Royce Wraith to the Porsche 911 as a retro-inspired rally car, and they were kind enough to let us share the results in the gallery above. The gallery features an Alfa Romeo Giulia in Martini livery, an Audi TT in classic Ur-Quattro colors, a Fiat 500 Abarth sporting massive flares and a hood blister full of auxiliary lights, a new Ford Mustang in RS200 livery, a Lancia Delta in Alitalia colors, a Porsche 911 in Rothmans livery, a Renault-Alpine in classic blue, a Rolls-Royce Wraith tribute to the Jules cologne Corniche Coupe, and a relatively modern-looking VW Touran. So far, the favorite around the office is the incredible Mercedes-Benz S-Class that is an homage to the wonderful 300 SEL 6.8 AMG "Red Pig" that essentially put AMG on the map. Check out the gallery above and see which one you like the best. Related Video: