Car Throttle

Sometimes I realize I have a certain lack of perspective when it comes to the car thing.  Perhaps it's a regional thing.  I'm in Los Angeles for a few days (a family member is getting married), and some of the cars that raise eyebrows in Raleigh would be taxis around here.  If there's an area in the US that embraces car culture more fully than the city of Angels, I'm not sure what it is.  This is a place where a C-class Mercedes is like a Taurus, and you routinely see more than ten Bentleys a day.  It's special.  My shutter finger has been getting tired.  Check it out. See, in the middle of the eastern seaboard, a CL55 AMG Supercharged is the kind of

Sales of luxury cars are increasingly greatly, and that is never more evident than at Rolls-Royce. With the ultra-expensive Phantom being the only model in in the lineup, the BMW 7-Series-based Ghost was introduced in order to increase sales. As can be expected, it is less expensive or in Rolls-Royce-speak more "accessible. Volkswagen-owned Bentley succeeded brilliantly in adding new models - the Continental lineup has been a huge success in growing sales for the brand. The same thing looks to be happening at Rolls-Royce with the Ghost - for 2010 Rolls-Royce is set to double its output over 2009. Expect the final tally to come in at around 2,500 units for the year, with profitability way up. With a solid success in the Ghost, Rolls-Royce isn't finished

The amount of introduced and planned hybrids, electric vehicles and range-extended electric vehicles has been quite numerous. It's a move that Rolls-Royce doesn't want to miss out on. Chief Executive Officer Tom Purves has commented on the possibility of an all-electric Rolls-Royce - and a Phantom has even been spotted with General Motors Hybrid badges (probably a joke). The Ghost is the brand's newest model, and is projected to more than double Rolls-Royce's brand volume. Given the increased amount of sales that Rolls-Royce wants to attract, Autocar says that a Ghost Hybrid is in the works. It isn't like producing it will be much of a stretch developmentally - the Ghost shares a platform and some components with the BMW 7-Series. BMW recently introduced a

A new Rolls Royce is something like getting a new Pope. It doesn't happen very often, it's sort of a big deal, but the fact of the matter is it looks exactly like the last one.  There's a new Rolls Royce out, and if you scratch your head and say "it sure looks like the last one," then you're not alone.  What's cool is that this is a new kind of Rolls Royce.  It's supposedly a Rolls Royce for people who want to actually drive their Rolls Royce, which isn't really something they've done in the past. The car's official debut is schedule for the Frankfurt show (where else?) but like most cars these days, the real debut for the Ghost comes a few weeks ahead of

The 7-Series based Ghost is coming and it promises to double Rolls-Royce's sales single-handedly. Many pictures of the car have been spotted completely uncovered. The Ghost looks nothing like the BMW 7-Series, but it is noticeably different from the Phantom in proportions. That seems to be Rolls-Royce's intention though. News has come that Rolls is planning an entire Ghost lineup, just like it's bigger brother the Phantom. I assume we'll be waiting a while to see them put into production though. It's a tried and true strategy; launch the model initially, ride the sales wave and then bring out new variants later to keep interest and create more sales. Rumors has it future models could include a coupe and a soft-top. They haven't been given the green light for production

As you probably know, Rolls-Royce had a record year in 2008, selling more cars and making more profits then ever. Of course they want to continue that as much as possible. The amazing thing is, according to Chief Executive Tom Purves, Rolls-Royce expects sales for 2009 to remain flat in comparison to 2008. In the midst of a severe economic downturn where every automaker has been hit, that is extremely impressive. The Phantom has been doing very well for itself, with the new variants Coupe and Drophead Coupe helping to increase sales in 2008 from 1010 to 1212 units, a 20 percent increase. For future growth though, Rolls-Royce is counting on the Ghost to grow the brand. At the Reuters Global Luxury Summit in London,Tom Purves commented on the world

In today's economy, everyone is downsizing.  And by everyone, I mean even Rolls-Royce. It certainly seems like a coming sign of the carpocalypse (all trademarks to Jalopnik on that term), but the truth is that a smaller Rolls Royce makes a lot of sense.  Even the super-rich are tightening their pockets, which can be seen in the abysmally small sales of uberluxury cars like the Rolls Royce Phantom, as well as Mercedes's rolling mistake, the Maybach - and in their miniscule resale values. Since the Phantom hasn't been making all that much money for BMW, it was naturally time for a smaller, higher-margin Roller.  Enter the new baby: the Ghost.  The Ghost rides on a slightly lengthened 7-series platform, and uses a 6.6L Twin-Turbo V12 (probably

Baby Roller, RR4, 200EX; the upcoming smaller Rolls-Royce has been called by many different names in it's short lifetime. Rolls-Royce has put naming speculation to rest though at the Shanghai Auto Show by announcing the official name. Rolls-Royce Ghost. Well, there you have it, that's the name. Not Silver Ghost, just Ghost. Kind of a break from tradition from a company that usually refers to it's cars with longer, more illustrious names. Silver Ghost has a lot of history behind it and that probably played a big part in the name choice. Ghost sounds more modern then Silver Ghost though, and I think it fits in with what R0lls-Royce is trying to do with the new model. The announcement was made by Rolls-Royce CEO Tom Purves at the company press conference at the