There's a new arrival on the way in the Rolls-Royce family!
This is the best look yet at the new luxury saloon, and when it goes on sale here in 2009, it will provide Rolls-Royce with a long-awaited baby brother to its Phantom limousine.
Following recent news from parent company BMW that the project had got the green light, we can bring you all the details on the exciting new model, which will go head-to-head with Bentley’s Continental Flying Spur.
The newcomer is set to be priced at around £150,000, and will prove crucial to securing the future of the famous luxury car manufacturer. Rolls currently sells around 800 Phantoms each year. But it plans to more than triple output at its plant in Goodwood, West Sussex, by producing around 3,000 examples of the new model annually from next year.
Engineers are well underway developing the car, and our spies have caught this BMW 7-Series-based prototype undergoing trials in Germany. At first glance, the test mule may not look like anything out of the ordinary. But with its stretched bonnet, long wheelbase and flared arches, it’s clear that this is a very special model. Although the new Rolls-Royce shares its chassis with the next-generation 7-Series, it will be significantly bigger than the forthcoming BMW flagship.
Baby Phantom targets Bentley
Audi R8 V12 TDI Concept Revealed
Gobsmacked. Flabbergasted. Utterly speechless. When the sheets were pulled off of the Audi R8 V12 TDI - Audi's latest study model, the sound of jaws hitting the floor was impressive. About as impressive as the gasoline powered Audi R8 is in real life, we can only imagine what the diesel TDI version can do when it is let loose on the roads. After all, the R10 diesel race car is about as succesful as the R8 is.
The Audi R8 is of course a major success for the four-ringed brand from Germany. R8's are sold out for the remainder of the year and this 500 hp / 1,000 Nm torque Grace Silver monster is sure to be picked up as fast as Audi can make them should the German Manufacturer decide to proceed with production, but the entire WCF crew is united on this topic, please Audi, don't make us go without!
Just to drop some numbers, 0 – 100 km/h takes just 4.2 seconds and has a top speed of well over 300 km/h with peak torque at just 1,750 rpm. The engine is Euro 6 compliant, expected to be enforced by 2014.
Spy Shots: Production BMW 135tii
Few models in the BMW lineup have as much tuning potential as the newly released 135i, and the Bavarian boys and girls are intent to capture as much of that market as possible. The BMW 1-series tii concept proved that BMW was serious about offering performance parts to boost (and possibly lighten) its new turbo'd coupe, and a member of 1addicts posted photos of what could be the first 135 to get the in-house tuner treatment.
Most of the parts shown are carryovers from the tii concept, including the revised front fascia, side skirts, carbon fiber diffuser and matching rear wing. The C.F. hood may have been swapped out for a stock aluminum piece, but we're guessing the weave has been covered in matching white paint. The upgraded brakes are one of the most obvious additions, while inside, there's plenty of Alcantara covered kit, from the shift boot to the seats, which are also dead ringers for the thrones shown on the concept. The steering wheel is new however, sporting more grippy suede and complete with three different sections packed with LEDs. Your guess is as good as ours about the two displays mounted at 11 and 1, but the center mounted LED arrangement is likely a shift-light/rev meter.
[source: Autoblog]
