Rolls Plans "Everyday" Motor Car
Not content in diluting the BMW brand exploring lower-priced markets with their 1-series, BMW's planning a "downsized model" for their Rolls-Royce sub-division. The new, $260k motorcar will slot below the only model in the erstwhile British brand's arsenal: the epic, 7-Series-based Rolls Royce Phantom. Business Week explains their corporate masters' goal: a prestigious ow-tow-mobile that "its owner- not chauffeur- can drive." Or, to use BMW design chief Chris Bangle's more prosaic description: "your everyday Rolls." Rolls-Royce CIO Ian Robertson is quick to quash any suggestion that "downsized" means "lower class." "We're not going downmarket," Robertson snapped. He's got a point. The "entry level" Roller's price tag compares to a Phantom "tab close to $500k, and sometimes as high as $2m." Still, seen in that light, you could call the new model a bit of a bargain, Mate.
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Keep Chris Bangle the hell away from it. I finally figured out what at least one if his design inspirations is...check out the rear end of a 64 Polara.
Personally, I think the current Roller is one of the ugliest vehicles ever. I won't blame Rolls-Royce as that company no longer exists. VW bought the assets and BMW got the trademark.
The rationale is overwhelmingly obvious: to compete against the Bentley GT/Flying Spur, which have been a big success. BTW, the Phantom is not 7 Series "based".
Both Mercedes and BMW screwed up estimating the size of the "super-luxury" $500k car market. Maybach is not long for this world, and Rolls in its best year sold 800 cars, way short of the 1,000+ a year they were predicting at launch in 2003. VW and Ford, on the other hand, seem to have hit the sweet spot with Bentley and Aston Martin. Even with a $250k Flying Spur rival, its unlikely Rolls will see black ink in the balance sheet before 2012.