1950 Rolls-royce Phantom on 2040-cars

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Recharge Wrap-up: Smart metals, OTA updates, Rolls-Royce LNG ship

"Smart" metals could help engines reduce emissions and invigorate US business. Metallurgist and University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee professor Pradeep Rohatgi combines known metal alloys with materials like ceramics, nanoparticles, and recycled waste to produce strong, lightweight composites with self-lubricating properties that help internal combustion engines run more efficiently. Rohatgi hopes his startup, Intelligent Composites, and its products can help US foundries compete with production outsourced overseas. See the video above, and read more at Phys.org. Almost 203 million cars will be capable of over-the-air (OTA) updates by 2022, according to ABI research. While Tesla has the OTA firmware updates nailed down, other automakers will focus on software update capability. This will take the place of dealer-installed updates and - like Chrysler did after the Jeep hacking incident - updates sent to owners via USB drives. OTA updates will enhance vehicle security and reduce recall rates. Read more at Green Car Congress. European bus manufacturers have agreed upon a standardized charging interface for their electric buses. Irizar, Solaris, VDL and Volvo will use pantograph charging for "opportunity charging" and CCS plugs as the base for overnight charging and network communication. The manufacturers hope other bus makers and charging providers to join them in cooperation over standardized charging. Read more at Green Car Congress. The second Audi Autonomous Driving Cup will take place from March 22 to 24, 2016 at the automaker's Museum Mobile in Ingolstadt, Germany. The competition involves eight university teams implementing basic Audi software in 1:8 scale electric Audi Q5 models, and putting them through the paces of simulated real-world driving situations. The teams develop software architecture to use the suite of sensor to have the cars drive, park, maneuver in traffic and perform emergency braking autonomously. Teams also perform a freestyle event where they put the car through an additional task of their choosing. The winning team gets ˆ10,000, with smaller prizes for second and third place. The competition also gives the students the opportunity to showcase their skills in front of a potential employer. Read more at Green Car Congress. Rolls-Royce will provide the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) propulsion for an NSK cargo ship carrying fish food. The ship will deliver 2,700 metric tons of fish food to fish farms along the Norwegian coast.

The Rolls-Royce Phantom leads this month's list of discounts

Every month, we take a look at vehicle sales data in America to pick out the vehicles with the largest monetary discount. Usually, the list is dominated by high-performance two-door luxury sports cars. This month is different. Much to our surprise, the 2020 Rolls-Royce Phantom stands above all others with an average discount of $18,588 off the price quoted on its window sticker. Now, it bears mentioning that an $18,000-plus discount still only represents 3.46% of its $537,500 average retail price, and that the resulting $518,912 cost to drive off the showroom floor still makes the Phantom an extremely expensive range-topping luxury sedan. Still, even very wealthy people won't snicker at that kind of savings. Up next is another unlikely newcomer to the biggest-discount chart: the 2020 Porsche Taycan. The electric super sedan's average sticker price of $152,250 is cut to $135,707 after a discount of $16,453 is lopped off. That represents a savings of nearly 11%. We can't say how many of the Taycan's buyers over the last month will be able to claim tax rebates due to the Taycan's status as an electric vehicle, but that could potentially represent a further cut off the car's sticker. Rounding out the top three is the 2020 Maserati Quattroporte. Buyers of this Italian luxury sedan are saving an average of $13,839 for an average transaction price of $87,646. We normally only share the top three, but this month's list is interesting enough that we'll share some more. In fourth and fifth place are the 2020 Mercedes-Benz S-Class (with an average $13,239 discount) and the 2021 BMW 7 Series (with an average $12,435 discount) followed by the 2020 Rolls-Royce Wraith — interestingly enough also with a savings of 3.46% — and the 2020 Maserati Levante and Ghibli. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Rolls-Royce Wraith gets Inspired by Fashion

A little over a month ago, Rolls-Royce revealed a special-edition Wraith that was "Inspired by Film." Now the British luxury automaker has returned with another unique take on its fastback coupe in the form of the Inspired by Fashion edition. Unveiled at the Pratt Institute in New York – one of the country's top design schools – the Wraith Inspired by Fashion is well, just that. It features a tone-on-tone white exterior, complemented by the customer's choice of accent color: green, red, or purple. The accents are also applied inside, where the cabin is done up in white and black leather, with a unique steering wheel and clock, wood trim that takes nine days to complete, welt leather door panels, and special embroidery. If nothing else, the Inspired by Fashion edition just goes to show the extent of personalization options that await the Rolls-Royce customer, the vast majority of whom take advantage of those choices when ordering their new ride. ROLLS-ROYCE MOTOR CARS UNVEILS 'WRAITH – INSPIRED BY FASHION' 8 May 2015, Goodwood Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and the world of Haute Couture have long been bound by a common philosophy – to take the very finest materials and craft them into the most exquisite and desirable luxury goods, appointed to the customer's exact specifications. In this spirit, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is delighted to unveil 'Wraith – Inspired by Fashion'. Fittingly, the marque's first showroom in Conduit Street, Mayfair was founded a short step from London's famous centre of tailoring excellence, Savile Row. Here, Sir Henry Royce and his partner The Honourable Charles Rolls echoed the offerings of their illustrious neighbours by providing London's most stylish denizens with the automotive equivalent of the finest cloths; a perfectly engineered Rolls-Royce chassis and running gear. The customer would then call upon their preferred coachbuilder, who would furnish the car with personal touches and accoutrements specified perfectly to their requirements. A century later, a bold new generation of customers continue to share the same appetite for commissioning expressions of their taste and lifestyle. 'Wraith – Inspired by Fashion' provides a modern take on this grand tradition. Akin to commissioning a fine suit or elegant piece of couture, the journey of creating a highly Bespoke Rolls-Royce motor car begins at the marque's equivalent of the tailor's atelier, the Bespoke Design Studio at the Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood, England.