Rolls-Royce CEO, Tom Purves announced new details on the firm’s forthcoming entry-level ‘baby’ sedan that was previewed in Geneva in early March as the near-production 200EX concept, at a press conference in New York where the car is currently being shown to potential customers on the first leg of a world tour. Codenamed PR4, the four-door luxury sedan will be powered by a brand new 6.6-liter turbocharged V12 engine unique to Rolls-Royce delivering an output in excess of 507 horsepower.

The new V12 engine that is also said to find its way under the bonnet of the latest generation BMW 7-Series, will be matted to an 8-speed automatic ZF gearbox. The British firm claims that the new drive-train will significantly improve fuel and CO2 efficiency over the larger Phantom series of cars.

Speaking at the event, Tom Purves said, “There has been a great deal of interest in this car since we first talked about producing a new model series in the autumn of 2006 and the reaction 200EX received at its unveiling at Geneva was very positive. As we move another step closer to the start of production at Goodwood, it is exciting to be able to share some of the specific technical details with customers and the media.”

“The RR4 will deliver an authentic Rolls-Royce experience to owners, so expect peerless comfort and build quality. However, we have consciously engineered this car to be more involving and dynamic for those owners around the world that will wish to drive it themselves,” he concluded.

The production version of the 200EX concept will be officially revealed at this September’s Frankfurt Show with sales commencing in early 2010.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars will unveil its latest experimental car, called 200EX, at the Geneva Motor Show on 3 March 2009.

200EX is a design study for a contemporary four-door saloon and shows the direction for RR4, a new model series from Rolls-Royce due for production in 2010.

PHILOSOPHY

Experimental models have always played a significant role in the history of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, from the first – 1EX, built in 1919 – to the most recent – 101EX, built in 2006. Unlike a concept car, the experimental models developed by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars have always been fully functioning vehicles, residing in a tangible world of wood, leather and metals rather than clay and foam. EX cars offer designers and engineers the opportunity for real-world innovation and have been used to showcase new components and engineering techniques as well as exterior and interior designs. “Modern automotive engineering is a balance of creativity, innovation and application. 200EX is an opportunity to assess these new ideas”, explains Helmut Riedl, Director of Engineering.

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With inspiration coming from the Phantom Drophead Coupe (convertible) and the Phantom Coupe, Rolls Royce revealed the 2009 Model Year Phantom and Phantom Extended Wheelbase. The facelifted Phantom limos are distinguished on the outside by a new streamlined front bumper that has been designed and integrated with a shallower grille, finished in stainless steel. Other new exterior features include LED door handle illumination and the fitting of 21-inch cast alloy wheels as standard.

Furthermore, the BMW Group owned British automaker offers two more wheel options, both manufactured in forged alloy and available in either painted or part polished finishes.

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Rolls-Royce CEO Tom Purves would like to make an electric-powered Phantom. ‘Many of our customers do small mileages exclusively in the city,’ says Purves, who took over the helm of BMW-owned Rolls-Royce in July 2008. ‘For these customers, an electric Rolls-Royce would be ideal.’

Purves has just driven the new electric Mini, which debuts at next month’s Los Angeles auto show, and was ‘bowled over by it. It is superb: quiet, fast and fantastic fun’.

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SPECS
ON SALE: November
BASE PRICE: $405,000
DRIVETRAIN: 6.7-liter, 453-hp, 531-lb-ft V12; RWD, six-speed automatic
CURB WEIGHT: 5,776 lb
0-60 MPH: 5.6 sec (mfr)
FUEL ECONOMY (EPA): 13 mpg (est)

What do I know about Rolls-Royce? I am landing at Heathrow to be whisked southward for a rendezvous with the new coupe version of the Phantom. That meeting will be effected in Goodwood, where the Rolls works lie hard by the old racing circuit (memories there), and thence to Folkestone and a Channel crossing, this time under it, and on to Reims in France (the memories roll in like clouds on a Weather Channel simulation). Finally, we’ll travel to Switzerland and Geneva’s airport. A few days of driving in upscale pretense. We are pros; do not try this at home.

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