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Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini utilities await approval from German parents [w/poll]

A cursory look at the top of the automobile market would suggest that the world's carmakers are gunning it full steam ahead into a new stratosphere of ultra-luxury and high-performance utility vehicles. After all, companies like Bentley and Maserati are preparing to launch their very first crossovers, while established players like Mercedes-Benz and Land Rover keep producing ever more expensive sport-utes of their own. But that's not the case across the board.
Rolls-Royce, for example, has yet to receive the green light to start working on its proposed CUV project. Though the dimensions of its sedans may already eclipse those of some crossovers, this would be the first time that Goodwood would produce a utility of its own. But while the British automaker's financial performance may have earned it a degree of autonomy, the final call may still come down to parent company BMW, which just might be waiting to see how Bentley fares with its upcoming crossover - and how much money it brings in to the Volkswagen Group - before deciding on whether or not it should proceed.
However, Rolls-Royce may not be alone in waiting for its German parent company to approve its high-priced ute. It's been two and a half years since we first laid eyes on the Lamborghini Urus (pictured), but the Italian automaker reportedly has not yet received approval from its parent company Audi and the greater Volkswagen Group to proceed with development and production. Envisioned to share its platform with the next Volkswagen Touareg, Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne and the production version of the Bentley EXP 9 F concept, the high-riding Lamborghini was originally set to reach production as the marque's third model line in 2017. But while Audi drags its feet - potentially waiting to see how the Bentley version pans out - the Urus' launch keeps getting pushed back, if it's ever to be made at all.

Work begins on new Rolls-Royce Phantom, PHEV likely

After reporting that a new Rolls-Royce Phantom would arrive sometime around 2017 in the same timeframe as a Rolls-Royce SUV, Autocar has a few more details on the next coming of the massive English sedan. Both its skin and its bones are being worked out right now, brand design head Giles Taylor telling the magazine that his team is "treading an evolutionary path" with the model, suggesting it will have "more charisma and more edge" as part of a future design language that will have "a charismatic expressiveness."
True, that gives us absolutely no indication of what the car will look like, but it seems fair to assume it will feature more curves and detailing than the present car. The long C-pillar will remain, though, the privacy it affords being "part of the Phantom recipe."
What's underneath could be more detailed as well, the report saying BMW is mulling an i3 kind of build, with an aluminum chassis supporting a carbon fiber bodyshell. Assuming production considerations and costs could be kept in line, the benefits would be a lighter car that offers more latitude with the design, easier implementation of new bodystyles and the segment's technology crown. A lighter Phantom would bring further rewards for its PHEV variant, which Autocar says is "a certainty."

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.