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Rolls-Royce Wraith looks rad in red [UPDATE]

UPDATE: An earlier version of this post called this car the "St. James Edition," which is incorrect. It's not a full-on special edition, rather a bespoke color. And an awesome one, at that. Of all the cars that would look right in red, and of all the colors you could specify for a new Rolls-Royce, ordering up a bright scarlet Wraith might not seem like the first choice to many. Fortunately there are plenty of other options available in the Rolls-Royce catalog. But for those who disagree, the British luxury automaker offers St. James Red, the bespoke color seen here. The color is offset by chrome brightwork on the grille, window frames, and door handles. The wheels are done up in a two-tone silver and gloss black, while the interior is swathed in what we're sure is only the softest, most supple black leather known to man. Of course, since it's a Wraith, there's power to match that racy exterior. This coupe is, after all, the most powerful vehicle Rolls-Royce has ever offered, packing a 6.6-liter twin-turbo V12 with 624 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque, propelling over 5,000 pounds of luxury to 60 in a scant 4.4 seconds. More than adequate, indeed. If there was ever a Rolls that could get away with the bright red approach, surely it's the Wraith.

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.

Watch the Rolls-Royce Cullinan tackle the sand dunes outside Dubai

The Rolls-Royce Cullinan is coming soon. The British automaker has made copious effort trying to keep the coming Cullinan from being considered just a crossover or SUV. The carmaker calls it an All-Terrain High-Sided Bodied Vehicle, and a feature as banal as a tailgate has been billed as a "luxuriously comfortable viewing platform." Yet when Rolls-Royce took a prototype Cullinan for testing in the Dubai dunes, they recorded their Phantom-based SUV ripping up the sand in ways you'd expect from a 30-year-old Chevrolet Blazer. As the Nurburgring became to cars, the dunes outside of Dubai have turned into a testing venue as useful as they are photogenic. Rolls-Royce's trip there follows a list of other luxury SUV makers, including Range Rover, Bentley, and most recently, Lamborghini. What caught our eye in this video is that outside of century-old, black-and-white photos of Charles Stuart Rolls hammering one of his early cars in contests like the 1906 Tourist Trophy, this is the first time we've ever seen Rolls-Royce do anything unabashedly racy off-road. It's as if they plucked Florida Man from the Soggy Bottom Mud Park, gave him the keys to a Cullinan and the challenge, "A case of Pabst says you can't break it." Fast forward to the 1:08 mark to get into the action. Obviously, we don't expect any Cullinan driver — save those Dubai hoons — to thrash a Cullinan like so. But it's nice to know the All-Terrain High-Sided Bodied Vehicle can do it. Related Video: News Source: Rolls-Royce [via YouTube] via Autoevolution Rolls-Royce SUV Future Vehicles Luxury Videos dubai rolls-royce cullinan