Car Throttle » Goodwood

Random Capture: Acid Trip Jaguar?

James — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:35:32 +0000

Thank God Jaguar still has a sense of humor. They’ve had a rough go at it lately – after all, they were tossed aside just when things were getting good with Ford. Jag’s now owned by Indian manufacturer Tata, which is pretty ironic when you think about it. They’re doing better than ever these days product-wise, at least: a lot of enthusiast rags have been proclaiming the new XFR to be the reigning king of heavyweight sport sedans, like the M5 and E63. But sales haven’t been pretty, and Jag’s never really sold well in the first place.

So, in what I think can only be construed as a deliberate attempt to bring a smile to people’s faces in these glum times, this is what Jaguar’s bringing to the Goodwood Festival of Speed this year. A Neon-Lime Green XKR Coupe with some absolutely stunning black wheels, it’s practically a rolling acid trip – and they’ve put up a rather charming photo of it.

I mean, why not? Simply fantastic. I so badly want to be at Goodwood this year, but it’s just not in the cards. If any of you readers go, make sure and snag a picture of this mental Jaguar! Of course, Jag’ll also be bringing the 225mph XFR record car, as well as a real XJ13 – but none of them are Toxic-Vomit Green, now are they?

Rolls-Royce To Double Sales With Ghost

Tony — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:29:48 +0000

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 tour with the 200EX prototype, saying it generated ”overwhelmingly positive” feedback. Over 10,000 people have expressed interest in the car, but at least “15 percent have expressed a genuine desire to own the vehicle” according to Purves. That works out to around 1,500 people seriously interested and placing orders for the Ghost.

With 1212 cars sold last year, that more then doubles Rolls-Royce’s sales volume! Now you see why Rolls-Royce wanted to make a smaller car? Over 150 new jobs have been created at Goodwood to produce the Ghost, which will share wood, leather and paint shops with the Phantom. At the end of the year, that will mean Rolls-Royce has added 400 new jobs in 2 years, bringing total production workforce to 900.

Shanghai 2009: RR4 Gets Official Name

Tony — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:16:26 +0000

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 Shanghai Auto Show. Like all other information around the car, Rolls-Royce has been content to let the information slowly dribble out bit by bit. Agonizing I know, but at least we now know how the car will look like based on the 200EX Concept. I can actually refer to it by an official name too! Finally.

The press release also confirms a production date commencing later this year at Goodwood. The Ghost will be built on it’s own production line, but will share paint, wood and leather workshops with it’s bigger, more expensive brother the Phantom.

According to the release, Rolls-Royce has been expanding it’s manufacturing facility in every area over the past 18 months to get ready for the car’s production.

It remains to be seen just how much farther downmarket Rolls-Royce will position the Ghost. I’d expect a pricetag somewhere around $250,000. We’ll see thoughn. Far as I know, the production debut is still on track for September at the Frankfurt International Auto Show.