2008 Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe. Diamond Black With Creme Lt. on 2040-cars

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Rolls-Royce CEO says demand for luxury cars is recovering

LONDON — The chief executive of Rolls-Royce said demand for his company's luxury cars is rebounding, helped by sales in Asia, and he is optimistic about the outlook for next year after the coronavirus pandemic hit consumer confidence and closed dealerships. Torsten Muller-Otvos said the demand meant Rolls-Royce was the first car company to resume car production in the United Kingdom on May 4. "We see a very fruitful business now coming back from Asia, also Europe is coming back on track, the Americas just delivered an excellent July result and August result," the boss of the BMW-owned Rolls-Royce Motor Cars told Reuters. "I am quite optimistic looking into 2021, particularly on the back of a very strong order bank we have already on our books." Muller-Otvos said his company has no plans to move production out of the United Kingdom because of Brexit. "We are committed to Britain. I would even call us being part of the British industrial crown jewels," he said. "For that reason, Rolls-Royce belongs to Britain."

2020 Rolls-Royce Cullinan Road Test | Aboard the HMS Cullinan

A tenet of good writing says you can’t modify a superlative. “Very best” gilds the lily, and “one of the best” is a hedge. Best is all you need say. ThatÂ’s the spirit of the phrase “the Rolls-Royce of Â…,” which gets applied to any kind of thing, say a particularly nice vacuum cleaner. It's immediately understood — “Rolls-Royce” is all you need say. So itÂ’s a special occasion when the pinnacle of automotive excellence, and the symbol of supremacy in everything wrought by human hands, heaves to in oneÂ’s driveway. The Rolls in this case was the 2020 Roll-Royce Cullinan, the most expensive SUV in the world, this one costing $394,275. This Cullinan arrived in lustrous Jubilee Silver (a big improvement over the purple one our contributor Jason Harper drove a few months ago). The car appeared to be carved from a silver ingot. Our first-drive review back in 2018 called the three-ton Cullinan a monolith, and thatÂ’s spot-on. It looks imposing and not to be trifled with, like a British warship. And in fact this car was built to a nautical theme, with a two-tone interior of Charles Blue / Navy Blue. A hand-painted coachline of Charles Blue traced its gunwales. Cullinan even sounds a bit like a British warship (they have the best names). But its namesake is the 3,100-karat Cullinan diamond, the largest ever discovered, chunks of which are part of the Crown Jewels. The car is an enduring symbol of British Empire, though with a lot of German parts. What can one say? We drive a lot of expensive cars at Autoblog, but it's a bit hard to understand why there even is such a thing as a Rolls-Royce press vehicle. What sort of information could a critic impart? Do you expect to hear it wasnÂ’t nice? Well, it was. Was the V12 not smooth? Like English cream. Was it not comfortable? Its cabin was expansive and its seats accommodating, and its ride was every bit the “magic carpet” Rolls promises, with sensors alerting the air suspension of upcoming unpleasantries in the road surface. And like a magic carpet, the system settles the car back down to earth for a gentle landing when youÂ’ve arrived. Yet the self-righting wheel centers make it appear as if you'd never left. And who would benefit from criticisms, if there were any? Few reading this have the means, but those who do would likely choose something more anonymous for real-world use, such as a top-trim Range Rover. Even a Bentley Bentayga would be less expensive, if only slightly less attention-getting.

Rolls-Royce Spectre reveal: Watch it here live Tuesday morning

Rolls-Royce is preparing to unveil the Spectre, its first series-produced electric car. The big coupe is scheduled to make its global debut online tomorrow (Tuesday, October 18) at 8 a.m. Eastern, and you can watch the livestream right here to get all of the details. Official details about the Spectre remain few and far between; Rolls-Royce has done a good job keeping the EV under wraps. Official spy shots published by the British company in July 2022 suggest that the model will wear a futuristic-looking design, though it will remain recognizable as a member of the Rolls-Royce range, and it will be the brand's most aerodynamic car thanks to a 0.25 drag coefficient. Inside, the Spectre will be mostly standard Rolls-Royce fare. One of the exceptions is a digital instrument cluster. 2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre testing in Frnace View 10 Photos Rolls-Royce noted that it put the Spectre through the most rigorous testing program it has ever subjected a new model to; prototypes will have covered over 1.5 million miles by the time deliveries begin. While that might sound like overkill, there's a lot to test: In addition to a battery-powered drivetrain, the Spectre features "141,200 sender-receiver relations and has more than 1,000 functions and more than 25,000 sub-functions," according to the company, and it will inaugurate a new suspension system capable of disconnecting the roll bars. Details such as horsepower and driving range will be announced during the unveiling. One of the figures that we do know is that the 59-inch-long doors are the longest units ever fitted to a production Rolls-Royce; put another way, they're nearly as long as a Smart Fortwo is wide. Tune in tomorrow to watch the Spectre make its debut. Deliveries will begin in the fourth quarter of 2023, and pricing hasn't been announced — though Rolls-Royce buyers aren't price-sensitive.