'Baby' Rolls-Royce revealed
By Richard Blackburn | drive.com.au | 27 February
2009 Rolls-Royce 200EX Concept
Is this the perfect car for billionaires downsizing? The pinnacle of motoring snobbery, Rolls-Royce, has released pictures of a baby Rolls that will hit the road next year.
Rolls-Royce says it's not a concept car but an "experimental model", which means that unlike a concept vehicle the 200EX is driveable and a forerunner to an imminent production car that will then be known as the RR4.
You could argue the timing isn't ideal to release a V12 limousine that is likely to set buyers back more than $700,000. But local Rolls-Royce boss Bevin Clayton says the timing is "perfect". The car is due to arrive in Australia in the first quarter of next year and already the company has taken 16 orders. Given Rolls-Royce sold just 18 cars last year, it's a fairly healthy order book.
"I only wish I could have some in the next few months," Clayton says. He says sales are beginning to pick up for the brand this year after a horror end to last year, caused by the economic downturn and the increase in the luxury car tax.
The tax added about $85,000 to the price of a Phantom, the million-dollar-plus car that effectively relaunched the Rolls-Royce brand and defined the current styling trend that has continued with the 200EX. The Trivett Group, which distributes Rolls-Royce in Australia, famously sold eight cars in
June last year, freighting them by plane to beat the tax rise.
The new baby Rolls-Royce is designed to put a modern slant on the brand, mixing fine wood, wool and leather with state-of-the-art technology such as a fighter jet-style head-up display.
However, the company says the car will be recognisable as a Rolls, with the long bonnet, a modern interpretation of the trademark grille and "Spirit of Ecstasy" bonnet ornament.
First published by Drive.com.au on February 27 2009
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