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Rolls-Royce celebrates Maharajas with special Phantom DHC

A century ago, the princes and maharajas of India shared a relationship with Rolls-Royce that spanned five decades and saw the nobility on the subcontinent commissioning over 840 unique vehicles from the stoic marque. It's that golden age that Rolls-Royce celebrates with the debut of this one-of-a-kind luxury cabriolet.
Based on the Phantom Drophead Coupe, this unique Maharaja edition is distinguished by such special touches as Carrara White paint embellished with a peacock motif, emerald green coachline, a deep green top (hood in UK terminology), light creme leather interior with green accents, marquetry inlays and custom seashell embroidery.
Said to be two years in the making by the Rolls-Royce Bespoke division, this one-off Phantom DHC was unveiled not in India, but in Dubai, where a fascination with the Golden Age of the Raja is evidently alive and well.

Stretched Rolls-Royce Cullinan is luxury in excess

If the Cullinan SUV wasn't Rolls-Royce enough for you before, then this stretched version from Klassen should assuage any of those doubts. Listed for $2.08 million, it's a far cry from the Cullinan's base price of $325,000. Klassen makes a number of stretched luxury vehicles, but this is the first time we've seen the Cullinan get modified like so. As a nod to its customer base, possibly, this long SUV is given the company's highest level of ballistic protection — B7. That means the thickness of the ballistic steel is 14.5 millimeters thick at minimum, providing protection from armor-piercing rifles and ammunition. The stretch measures 40 inches in length, which makes the Rolls look considerably larger, but not unwieldy. Occupants will be treated to the highest of luxuries including an iMac multimedia center (yes, an actual Apple desktop computer), Bang and Olufsen sound system and special ambient LED lighting — all of which is controllable via an iPhone. Klassen also says that the passengers can ride privately behind a "luxury partition wall." Looking at the "wall" in its other creations, it appears to create the ultimate in private riding for when you just can't stand to be interrupted by your driver. Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of the Cullinan's "wall." Its closest competitor is probably the stretched Bentley Bentayga, also made by Klassen. But why go for that when you can have the Rolls SUV instead? Featured video: Featured Gallery Klassen Rolls-Royce Cullinan stretched Auto News Read This Rolls-Royce SUV Luxury

Rolls-Royce Cullinan and BMW 8 Series spied south of Death Valley

Recently, we've stumbled upon a number of manufacturer prototypes running around. Usually, spy photographers sit and wait for hours with cameras primed in order to get a few shots of a car. We just got lucky. First, we caught the new Chevy Corvette ZR1 convertible during a Facebook Live video. A week or so later McGraw snapped a video of a ZR1 coupe cruising in his neck of the woods. Today, our ace photographer Drew Phillips caught a BMW test fleet filling up the new Rolls-Royce Cullinan and 8 Series coupe in Baker, Calif. Baker sits along Interstate 15, about halfway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. It's just south of Death Valley, and, being late August, suggests that BMW was doing some hot weather testing. Drew was filling up his car when the fleet rolled in. There were at least two of the new king Rolls and a single 8 Series. Both cars were wearing a full swirl camouflage wrap. It's not an uncommon place to see prototypes. Still, seeing a whole fleet roll in is quite a sight. We've seen official photos of the Cullinan before, but these pictures give us our best view of the profile and rear we've had so far. From a distance, it looks like a high-riding version of the new Phantom with a hatch in place of the trunk. The taillights are obviously just filler units. Expect the final version to look very much like the squared off LED units on the Phantom. Likewise the interior and engine should be straight from the Phantom. That means a twin-turbocharged V12, though power is likely to be sent to all four wheels. We've seen the full BMW 8 Series concept a few times now. The proportions on the production car look the same, with a long hood and even longer wheelbase. The nose isn't quite as aggressive as the concept, but we expected the styling to be toned down to meet crash and safety standards. As for engines, look for six, eight and (hopefully) 12-cylinder power under the hood. A plug-in variant is also expected. Both cars have been in development for a long while, so look for full debuts sometime this auto show season. Maybe we'll happen upon some more test mules between now and then. Related Video: