2016 Rolls-royce Wraith on 2040-cars

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Rolls-Royce Ghost Zenith Collector's Edition is the ultimate Ghost

This generation of Rolls-Royce Ghost is coming to a close. We’ve seen a couple of prototypes for the new Ghost out testing in the wild, but it looks like Rolls has one more ace to play on the current car: the Zenith CollectorÂ’s Edition. If youÂ’re an avid Rolls-Royce enthusiast, you may remember that the British marque introduced a Zenith edition of the Phantom in 2016 when that generation of Phantom was wrapping up its 13-year tenure. WeÂ’ve had the current Ghost for about 10 years now, which means a new one is right around the corner. Before itÂ’s finished, Rolls-Royce is screwing together 50 of these Zenith Edition cars. Rolls says these 50 cars “will feature the highest levels of bespoke ever seen on a Ghost Collection car.” ThatÂ’s saying something for a company that will pretty much do anything you ask so long as your bank account can back it up. Take a gander through the photos above to see what the 1 percenters are riding around in these days. Changes to this Ghost versus a regular one are inspired from the 200EX Concept, which was the concept car for the Ghost back in 2009. Each Zenith Edition will house a commemorative ingot made from the 200EXÂ’s Spirit of Ecstasy — itÂ’s melted down, then part of it is being placed into the center console of each of the 50 Zeniths. There is a plaque that explains exactly what it is to anyone wondering. The center console features an engraving of some part of the 200EX Concept. The owner gets to choose exactly what part it is. All the door pockets are illuminated with some rather fantastic-looking lights shining through perforated leather. A special clock and door sill commemorates this Ghost as the Zenith Edition. From the outside, youÂ’ll notice that all Ghost Zenith cars have a two-tone paint scheme with only three options, all shown here. Rolls doesnÂ’t say how much they cost, but it does warn that order books for the Zenith will close imminently. The cars are being manufactured in West Sussex as we speak.

The UK votes for Brexit and it will impact automakers

It's the first morning after the United Kingdom voted for what's become known as Brexit – that is, to leave the European Union and its tariff-free internal market. Now begins a two-year process in which the UK will have to negotiate with the rest of the EU trading bloc, which is its largest export market, about many things. One of them may be tariffs, and that could severely impact any automaker that builds cars in the UK. This doesn't just mean companies that you think of as British, like Mini and Jaguar. Both of those automakers are owned by foreign companies, incidentally. Mini and Rolls-Royce are owned by BMW, Jaguar and Land Rover by Tata Motors of India, and Bentley by the VW Group. Many other automakers produce cars in the UK for sale within that country and also export to the EU. Tariffs could damage the profits of each of these companies, and perhaps cause them to shift manufacturing out of the UK, significantly damaging the country's resurgent manufacturing industry. Autonews Europe dug up some interesting numbers on that last point. Nissan, the country's second-largest auto producer, builds 475k or so cars in the UK but the vast majority are sent abroad. Toyota built 190k cars last year in Britain, of which 75 percent went to the EU and just 10 percent were sold in the country. Investors are skittish at the news. The value of the pound sterling has plummeted by 8 percent as of this writing, at one point yesterday reaching levels not seen since 1985. Shares at Tata Motors, which counts Jaguar and Land Rover as bright jewels in its portfolio, were off by nearly 12 percent according to Autonews Europe. So what happens next? No one's terribly sure, although the feeling seems to be that the jilted EU will impost tariffs of up to 10 percent on UK exports. It's likely that the UK will reciprocate, and thus it'll be more expensive to buy a European-made car in the UK. Both situations will likely negatively affect the country, as both production of new cars and sales to UK consumers will both fall. Evercore Automotive Research figures the combined damage will be roughly $9b in lost profits to automakers, and an as-of-yet unquantified impact on auto production jobs. Perhaps the EU's leaders in Brussels will be in a better mood in two years, and the process won't devolve into a trade war. In the immediate wake of the Brexit vote, though, the mood is grim, the EU leadership is angry, and investors are spooked.

2014 Rolls-Royce Wraith is everything you need, everything you don't [w/videos]

It's not often that we get to talk about a new Rolls-Royce, what with the fact that the company's current model line is basically made up of two vehicles. But that all changes here at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show, with the introduction of what might be the most emotional Roller of modern times, the Wraith.
The new two-door Rolls is effectively a Ghost coupe, and it stands to reason that this is Royce's answer to the Bentley Continental GT, albeit at a higher price point. Much higher, actually - the 245,000-euro - $320k USD - price of entry for the Wraith is about $100,000 more than a Continental GT Speed coupe. Woof. And to our eyes, all that extra money isn't buying you much in the looks department, as the collective opinion of the Autoblog editors on-site in Geneva is that it's more imposing than elegant.
But the Wraith will no doubt be a special, exclusive, impressive machine for anyone who plunks down that sort of cash. For starters, it's powered by a V12 that puts out an impressive 624 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque mated to an eight-speed ZF "Satellite Aided" transmission. This nifty cog-swapper actually works with GPS to not only pre-select the right gear for the portion of road you're on, but for the next portion of you'll be driving on, as well. That, friends, is cool.