In fact, with 156,957 BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brand vehicles delivered worldwide in May, the group recorded a 6.4 percent increase over the same month last year, achieving its best-ever May sales result.
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Rolls-Royce unveiled its first all-new coupe for over three decades, the new Phantom Coupé at the 78th International Geneva Motor Show. Production of the new car will start at Goodwood in the summer of 2008. The ultra-luxurious coupe will be powered by the Phantom’s 6.75-litre V12, producing 453 Hp and 720 Nm or 531 lb-ft of torque. Check out the video from Rolls Royce Geneva Show after the jump. -Continued
Following BMW Group CEO, Norbert Reithofer’s announcements on the group’s future product plan (click here), Rolls Royce came out with further details on the Phantom Coupe. The British carmaker stated that the four-seater coupe inspired from the 101EX Concept, will be launched in 2008 with production scheduled to begin next summer at the company’s manufacturing plant in The Phantom Coupe will be equipped with the same 6.75 litre V12 engine that we find in the other Phantom models producing 453bhp and 720Nm of torque. Compared to the Convertible, the Coupe will be subtly tuned with more emphasis placed on the driver. The body will be shorter than that of the Phantom sedan and there will be revisions to the suspension and chassis set-up.
Rolls-Royce Chief Designer, Ian Cameron, said, “With this car we wanted to emphasise the performance potential of the 6.75 litre V12 engine and the effortless experience that it delivers. Whilst never overtly sporty, Rolls-Royce is a brand that has always offered owners a powerful and refined drive combined with, as Sir Henry Royce described it, a bit of fizz.”
Ian Robertson, Chairman and Chief Executive, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, said, “This new model represents an important milestone in the company’s history. It completes the Phantom family and judging by the customer reaction to 101EX, we are confident of its success. Our challenge lies in meeting the exceptional levels of customer demand for the Phantom range and in preparing Goodwood to meet the needs of future new cars.”
We just finished reading BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer’s speech at the Press Conference on the Strategic Realignment of the BMW Group and boy did he reveal some interesting stuff. But we completely understand your need to primarily learn about the announcements on the BMW Group’s future product portfolio so we decided to split our post on Reithofer’s speech into two, keeping the part concerning BMW’s new strategy for later. So, BMW will expand its range with at least four new models by 2012. The confirmed products are: the X1 SUV based on the 1-Series hatch, a high-end four-door coupe based on the CS Concept (click here), the production version of the X6 Concept that we saw in
Reithofer also confirmed BMW Groups’ plan to add two new models in Rolls Royce’s portfolio; a Phantom Coupe based on the Cabriolet version and a smaller Rolls-Royce that will fit under the Phantom in terms of both size and price.
As far as MINI is concerned, Reithofer pointed out that the BMW Group has opted for a further model in the sports activity vehicle segment.
Reihofer noted that although further product decisions beyond the planning horizon until 2012 have been taken, he could not provide any details at this point