Car Throttle

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

Ultra-luxury cars like Bentley and Rolls-Royce aren't for customers particularly interested in hiding their wealth or not appearing ostentatious. Neither are exotics from Ferrari, Lamborghini and others. However, some customers choose to take things far further to make outrageous statements. Mansory is one such company that has been happy to oblige the tasteless. Remember the Mansory Rolls-Royce Ghost? You'd probably rather not. However, the company is seeking to offer a toned down offering, dubbed White Ghost. With a hint of sarcasm, we'd have to say that we think the Rolls-Royce Ghost is pretty good as it stands. However, there is always those who like to try to improve on near-perfection. In that regard, as far as the exterior, the White Ghost comes far closer than anything Mansory has tried with

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

Rumors of an electric Rolls-Royce Phantom are swirling again at the Goodwood Festival. We've been hearing that the possibility is under serious consideration by the top brass at Rolls-Royce. Rolls-Royce CEO Tom Purves has talked about the subject, saying: “Many of our customers do small mileages exclusively in the city….for these customers, an electric Rolls-Royce would be ideal…..we stand for unmatched refinement and you can’t get a quieter and less intrusive engine than a well engineered electric motor…..we also stand for strong and instant torque – and an electric motor delivers maximum torque instantly. The ‘waftability’ would be fantastic.” Sounds like a pretty strong endorsement to me. Meanwhile, Auto Express is saying that a Rolls-Royce spokesman confirmed, while speaking to the press, that an electric Phantom is

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

When I came across this one, I just had to post it! It was just too funny for a variety of reasons. The subject of an electric Rolls-Royce has been something the company has given serious thought to. Even beyond that, it seems like it's something they want to do as well, judging from the comments made by Rolls-Royce's CEO Tom Purves: “Many of our customers do small mileages exclusively in the city....for these customers, an electric Rolls-Royce would be ideal.....we stand for unmatched refinement and you can’t get a quieter and less intrusive engine than a well engineered electric motor.....we also stand for strong and instant torque – and an electric motor delivers maximum torque instantly. The ‘waftability’ would be fantastic.” Voila! Hybrid Rolls-Royce? Man on

Trickle, trickle. Rolls-Royce is really dragging this one out, aren't they? We saw the concept, then got a name announced, then heard about more variants and in among all of that, many spy shots of the car sans camouflage have been captured. The strategy must be working though: Rolls-Royce said it has received more than 10,000 "expressions of interest" in the Ghost, with around 1,500 of those "expressing a serious desire to own the vehicle." Your guess is as good as mine whether or not that means orders. 536 horsepower and 575 pound-feet to the wheels! Whoa! Talk about performance, the smaller Ghost is packing even more power than it's larger brother the Phantom. That power works out to a 0-60 time of 4.7 seconds,

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

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