2006 Rolls Royce Phantom Ewb Sedan 4-door 6.7l on 2040-cars

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Ghost Coupe to be fastest Rolls-Royce ever

Autocar has snapped spy shots of a Rolls-Royce Ghost Coupe, and judging from proportions the car will be so long in front and raked in back that it would make Dick Tracy whistle. We'll get the true story on that at next year's Geneva Motor Show, which is when Autocar says it's due to be revealed, but what's less in question is this: with a 6.6-liter, 600-horsepower V12 and a tauter ride it will be the fastest Rolls-Royce ever.
Weight is estimated to drop by 200 kg compared to its sedan sibling, and its roofline to drop by up to nearly three inches. If the horsepower numbers are correct the shorter and lighter Ghost coupe, with a 69-hp bump over the sedan, will assuredly deliver the "considerably brisker" acceleration promised. Helping matters will be the lowered chassis, larger tires, "mildly sports-orientated" brakes and a suspension tuned to be more aggressive but delivering just as much waftability.
Although it's being called the Ghost Coupe for now, insiders have suggested to the magazine that that it will get its own, bespoke, name, with pricing above the standard sedan but below the extended-wheelbase sedan.

The Rolls-Royce of cocktails is a coddling ride for your tastebuds

In our last installment of the irregular and irreverent series on drinks loosely connected to – or named after – automobiles, we sipped a Speedway Cocktail, a drink that was as exciting (and dangerous) as the early Indy 500. This time, we're stirring a Rolls-Royce Cocktail with a silver spoon. And, as always, enjoy cocktails (and reading about them) while you're not behind the wheel. If the rumors we hear are correct, Rolls-Royce will be unveiling an all-new Phantom this summer. The arrival of a flagship Roller isn't quite as rare as the coronation of a new member of the British Royal Family, but is tres recherche nonetheless. Since the nameplate's founding nearly 100 years ago, this will be only the eighth generation of Phantom to be delivered into the greedy hands of the world's vilest oligarchs. If you're one of the .01 percent, this is cause for a drink, and what better cocktail to raise in toast than one named for the brand itself? (For us 99.99 percenters, the answer is easy: Molotov.) As you might expect, the Rolls-Royce cocktail is kind of a classied-up version of an upscale iteration of an already elegant drink, conjugated from the classic (gin) martini and it well-married brother, the Martinez. "It's basically a very wet martini," says Paul Hletko, founder of FEW Spirits, an Evanston, Illinois gin and whiskey distillery acronymically (and winkingly) named for local maven Frances Elizabeth Willard, who helped found the Women's Christian Temperance Union – one of the forces behind Prohibition. "Two-to-one is a fantastic ratio of gin to vermouth that really lets the vermouth shine, and then having that split between dry and sweet vermouths gives you fantastic and rich complexity, with that little bit of Benedictine being that really nice herbal add," Hletko told us. It all sounds intriguingly botanical, and the drink itself has a reputation as being a favorite among bartenders, a coupe brimming with insider insight. "In the history of drinking there are many cocktails made with vermouth and gin," says legendary mixologist Charles Schumann from Schumann's Gastronomie in Munich.

Rolls-Royce could go electric, if battery tech advances

After toying with the idea a few year ago, Rolls-Royce isn't ready to completely give up on the idea of an electric model quite yet. Still, a hyper-luxurious EV from the opulent brand might not happen any time soon. "Suppose we find a battery technology that can offer ranges that are acceptable to our customers," brand boss Torsten Muller-Otvos said, according to Automotive News. "I can definitely imagine a fully electric Rolls-Royce." Muller-Otvos was clear that no final decision on an EV or even a much-rumored plug-in hybrid has been made yet. Rumors of an EV from the brand go back years. At the 2011 Geneva Motor Show, Rolls-Royce showed that it wasn't completely against going electric. The 102EX concept (pictured above) was based on a Phantom but with two, 194-horsepower electric motors and a 71-kWh battery to power them. The company claimed the behemoth had an estimated range of 124 miles and could hit 60 miles per hour in under eight seconds. At least one journalist even got to drive it. However, the brand's wealthy customers reportedly weren't convinced, and the project was canned. In 2014, several reports began suggesting a plug-in hybrid Rolls under development that would answer concerns about range and charging time amongst the clientele. This powertrain could debut on the next-gen Phantom around 2017, and it's likely to be borrowed from parent company BMW.