2023 Rolls-royce Ghost Black Badge Sedan on 2040-cars

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Rolls-Royce to decide on SUV by year's end

The market for high-end luxury SUVs continues to climb, but Rolls-Royce is in no huge rush to jump on the leather-clad, high-riding bandwagon. The company has just announced a new sales record for the fifth year running, with over 4,000 units delivered in 2014. But it recognizes that SUVs are where the market is going, so it's going to carefully weigh its options, and make a decision on how to proceed by the end of 2015. This according to Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Muller-Otvos in speaking with Auto Express. "There is not yet a final decision, because we still need to answer a couple of questions ourselves," said Muller-Otvos in regard to a potential SUV, admitting, "You need to move the brand from time to time, you need to go with the flow. We might even see in a few years that the classical sedan segments are shrinking due to the fact that SUV type vehicles are growing. So if you don't change your product portfolio to something that is up to date then at some point in time you might even die." If the storied Goodwood-based marque does proceed with an SUV, it would be following former sister-company Bentley into the segment. But they're not the only ones. Mercedes is said to be preparing a Maybach version of the next GL-Class, Jaguar Land Rover keeps making increasingly expensive and luxurious Range Rovers, and Maserati is preparing to launch its Levante crossover. The prospect of an SUV isn't the only project Rolls-Royce has in the works, though. It's got a convertible version of the Wraith coming soon, and sooner or later there will be a replacement for the thirteen-year-old Phantom saloon, potentially to include some carbon fiber in its construction to help trim weight. A hybrid powertrain could be in the mix as well, though customers have shunned the idea of a pure electric model. Just don't expect a Rolls-Royce more accessible than the Ghost: the company is glad to be growing its sales, but is not chasing any specific sales targets that would press it to cheapen the brand by going down-market.

Rolls-Royce Wraith Black Arrow marks end of V12 coupe era

Rolls-Royce is offering luxury car fans one last taste of the velvet hammer. In marking the end of the line for the Wraith coupe and its sumptuous V-12 engine, Rolls Royce announced an extremely limited model: the Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow edition. In keeping with it being the last V-12 coupe, Rolls-Royce is only making 12 of the cars — which are already subscribed to clients in other parts of the world, since Rolls delivered its last North American Wraith a little over a year ago. “As the last examples of this landmark motor car get ready to leave Goodwood, we commemorate WraithÂ’s status as the last series V12 coupe we will ever make,” Rolls-Royce Motor Cars CEO Torsten Muller-Otvos said in a statement. “This magnificent final V12 coupe Collection captures both the significance and spirit of Wraith through the marqueÂ’s hallmark and peerless Bespoke capabilities.” The Wraith debuted back in 2013 and was a big hit for Rolls-Royce fans looking for a modern interpretation of a Rolls-Royce coupe. The British automaker says it brought in a new, younger generation of buyers for the brand - with the coupe featured in popular movies and music. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. In keep with RollsÂ’ bespoke capabilities as Muller-Otvos mentioned, the Black Arrow edition will use special open-pore Black Wood veneer for its internal panels, including a rear “waterfall” panel that separates the rear seats. The seats, door details, and lower dashboard panel will be lined with special new “club leather” materials, that feature enhanced color contrast and more natural leather markings. Rolls says this is to give drivers a more “club-armchair type of driving seat.” Of course the most important feature of this special edition is its V-12 engine. Here the 12-cylinder thatÂ’s so smooth one can barely hear it displaces 6.6 liters and outputs 624 horsepower and 605 lb-ft of torque. Yahoo Finance reviewed the standard Dawn Black Badge (the WraithÂ’s convertible sibling) and it was a smooth, powerful, and rather unique driving experience. Now this amount of luxury and exclusivity does not come cheap. While pricing was not released for this special edition Black Arrow, the standard Wraith coupe starts around $350,000.

Rolls-Royce Black Badge Cullinan 'Blue Shadow' straddles Earth and space

Rolls-Royce has another special edition for stargazing types who might not have the schedules to stay up all night stargazing. Called the Rolls-Royce Black Badge Cullinan "Blue Shadow" Private Collection, its design honors the nebulous area where Earth's atmosphere ends and so-called "outer space" begins. Since the edges of our planetary terrarium blend into space, there's no useful coloring-book-like boundary. The International Aeronautics Federation uses an arbitrary height called the Karman line, which Hungarian engineer and physicist Theodore von Karman decided would be 100 kilometers above Earth because that's around where the last traces of aerodynamic lift petered out, giving way to "astronautics." The Cullinan Blue Shadow is a canvas for artistic representation of the Karman line and what lies beyond. The deep blue exterior color signifies the atmosphere's upper layers where the blackness of space suffuses the blue of our daytime skies. Contrasting satin jewelry in the front fascia suggests the silica and aluminum oxide whitewash applied to the thermal protection tiles on craft like NASA's Space Shuttle. The Spirit of Ecstasy was produced in 3D-printed titanium coated in a blue-tinted lacquer, the base inscribed with "Blue Shadow Private Collection." The Cullinan's 22-inch wheels are also dressed in a lacquer layer for dark translucence. Inside, the starlight headliner's been decorated with an embroidered moon composed of five colors, each color sewn in with a different technique and texture. The headliner's 799 white LEDs and 384 blue LEDs create a field of stars for Luna, Rolls-Royce engineers tweaking the twinkling effect in the LEDs "for an even more enchanting glow." The painted instrument panel and door cards transition from black up high to dark and then light blue below. Six layers of colors combine five blues with a black, providing another kind of twinkle thanks to blue and clear glass particles in the clearcoat. The Private Collection clock comes with blue anodized details and an engraved "Blue Shadow." The artwork created in the seats is a first for Rolls-Royce. Each seat's been perforated more than 75,000 times in a pattern representing the Earth as seen from space.