1996 Rolls Royce Silver Spur Mark Iv Absolutely Immaculate & Only 18,175 Miles! on 2040-cars

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Rolls-Royce gives up on electric, diesel models in favor of hybrid

Rolls-Royce is not what you might characterize as one of the greenest automakers on the market. Its vehicles tend to be rather large, saddled with lots of plush leather, thick carpets and wood trim, and powered by twelve-cylinder engines in excess of six and a half liters. But that doesn't mean that the stoic British automaker isn't trying to clean up its act, even if its customers haven't responded in kind. Rolls did not receive a single order for the all-electric Phantom. A few years ago, Rolls-Royce showcased an all-electric Phantom prototype called the 102EX (pictured above) and sent it on a global tour to demonstrate to customers around the world. But in speaking to company representatives, Autocar reports that Rolls did not receive a single order for such a vehicle. Nor did customers respond favorably to the idea of a diesel Rolls-Royce. Prospective and existing clients exhibited "significant hostility" towards the idea, despite a diesel prototype that was "effectively inaudible" in comparison to the existing gasoline models while delivering torque-driven performance which the company characterized as "impressive" while significantly reducing carbon emissions. As a result, the diesel project was killed off just like the electric one. That doesn't mean that Rolls-Royce is giving up, though. In the wake of the diesel and electric projects, Goodwood is reportedly proceeding with a hybrid powertrain borrowed from parent company BMW, which offers a wide array of hybrids including versions of 3 Series, 5 Series and 7 Series sedans, the X6 crossover and the i3 and i8 PHEVs.

Rolls-Royce Wraith revealed, ready to battle Bentley

Bentley may have rounded out the redesign of its Continental line of cars with the new Flying Spur four-door's debut at this week's Geneva Motor Show, but Rolls-Royce has shown up in Switzerland with the Wraith, a GT coupe version of the Ghost sedan that moves the brand one step closer to having an answer for everything that wears a Flying B.
The Wraith's natural combatant would be Bentley's Continental GT Coupe, though as all Rollers come in orders of magnitude more expensive than their already costly competitors from Crewe, the new coupe's €245,000 initial starting price will be $100k USD more than the base price of the most expensive Continental, a GT Speed coupe.
What your CEO bonus money will get you is a 624-bhp V12 engine cranking out 590 pound-feet of torque. The sprint to 60 miles per hour will pass by in 4.4 seconds, with a unique 8-speed ZF automatic transmission snapping off shifts using a new Satellite Aided Transmission technology that works with GPS to pre-select the right gear for not only the road you're on, but the road you'll be coming up on ahead.

Rolls-Royce rings up best-ever sales year

The wheeled monolith above is the 2013 Rolls-Royce Phantom Extended Wheelbase - a rolling demonstration of the real definition of "More." For that reason we can use it as a symbol of the firm's sales, which have not only achieved 'more' for the past three years but have also broken company records. Adding to its record-setting years in 2010 and 2011, the Goodwood-based carmaker moved 3,575 units, an increase of 38 over the year before.
The US retook its crown as the greatest consumers of Rolls-Royces, snagging it back from China. Other market movers were the Middle East, where sales rose 26 percent, Mainland Europe - the same place where mass-market makers are drowning in woe and inventory - that rose by 21 percent, and the Asia Pacific region and its 18-percent rise. Rolls-Royce is probably making more money on its cars, too, with bespoke uptake reaching 95 percent on the 10-year-old Phantom line and 73 percent for the Ghost line.
With a just-refreshed lineup and one or perhaps two more models coming, the indicators for more upward sales movement are strong, even if we don't know how soon the new models will arrive. For 2012, the brand that sells more cars above $200,000 than any other proved the saying that storms can't affect you when you live above the clouds. The press release below has more to say about the record year.