2011 Rolls-royce Ghost on 2040-cars

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BMW chooses Tesla's Supercharger network for its future EVs

BMW, following the lead of many other automakers, has confirmed this week that it will adopt the North American Charging Standard (NACS), delivering EV drivers in the U.S. and Canada access to Tesla’s Supercharger network. The move goes a step further in cementing NACS as the universal system of choice. The conversion to Tesla plugs will begin formally in 2025 for BMW, as well as its Mini and Rolls-Royce brands in the U.S. market. Those marques now use the Combined Charging System (CCS) for EV charging. “It is our top priority to ensure that our drivers have easy access to reliable, fast charging," said Sebastian Mackensen, President & CEO, BMW of North America. NACS, which began as began as TeslaÂ’s proprietary charging connection, rapidly has become the new standard in its native land after Ford announced it would adopt it this past summer. This was quickly followed by General Motors. Since then, brands including Rivian, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Nissan, Polestar, and Jaguar have climbed d on board NACS. Earlier this month, the Hyundai Motor Group announced it would also provide customers with the NACS connector across its namesake, Kia, and Genesis marques. BMW says it will work across its three marques in the coming months to ensure a smooth transition to TeslaÂ’s charging network by early 2025, and owners will be able to pay for charging using their respective vehicle brandÂ’s own app. Related Video: How to charge a non-Tesla on a Supercharger

Rolls-Royce planning one or two new models based on the Ghost

Fourteen years after Volkswagen bought Bentley, its English brand has two distinct lines, Mulsanne and Continental - with numerous variants at the Continental's lower price point - an SUV on the way and perhaps a sports car and a Mulsanne convertible, too. In the 14 years since BMW bought Rolls-Royce, its English brand has the Phantom and Ghost - with three variants at the Phantom's much higher price point. Rolls-Royce doesn't chase sales, but the difference in the brand direction helps explain why Bentley has sold more cars in the first six months of this year than Rolls-Royce sold all of last year.
And even though Rolls-Royce isn't solely about the tally, it would still like to improve on the 3,538 cars it sold last year - a sales record that eclipsed a mark set in 1978. To do so its CEO is planning one or two more Ghost-based models beyond the as-yet-unnamed Ghost Coupe due next year, perhaps to be called the Corniche, according to a report in Autocar. A convertible version of the Ghost Coupe is the obvious guess for one of them, and it would get the double-R "closer to 4,000" sales, where the CEO would like to be.
Sales might not be the only part of it, though; the headline of the Autocar piece says the CEO wants the new models because they're "required to give Rolls-Royce a proper identity." If that is accurate, we have no idea what kind of identity Rolls-Royce could be missing that would be served by a wider range of cars in the Ghost range, which by their place in the brand's own lineup are admittedly not the most opulent carriages on the planet.

Rolls-Royce releases sketch of Phantom Drophead Coupe Bespoke Waterspeed Collection

A limited-edition Rolls-Royce Phantom is something of an oxymoron. The company only sold 3,630 cars last year, and even fewer of those were its flagship Phantom. However, that isn't keeping the company from regularly revealing even more limited editions of its already hyper-exclusive cars. This is precisely the case with the new Phantom Drophead Coupé Bespoke Waterspeed Collection, a forthcoming model limited to 35 examples.
The special models are inspired by a famous speedboat race on September 1, 1937, between the United States and Great Britain on Lake Maggiore on the Swiss-Italian border. The British fielded the Bluebird K3 hydroplane boat powered by a massive supercharged V12 Rolls-Royce R-Type engine with Sir Malcolm Campbell at the helm. All that displacement shot the sleek watercraft to 129.5 miles per hour, claiming a new world waterspeed record in the process.
For the special commemorative Drophead Coupé model that celebrates "a seminal act of British daring and endeavor," Rolls-Royce is finishing the convertible in Maggiore Blue paint with a brushed steel hood and tonneau cover, along with inlaid wood trim. Rolls is not announcing an official release date or price for the special cars yet, but they are going on sale before the end of the year. Scroll down for the whole story about the car's inspiration.