RSS_Auto_Poster
Well-known member
Written by Top Gear
Rolls-Royce is developing an SUV. Or, as Britain"s plushest car manufacturer would prefer it, a new model that can "cross any terrain". That ought to be anything from a Waitrose car park to the gravel driveway of your out-of-town manor.We jest, of course. This is a car that makes perfect sense for Rolls, with the luxury car market increasingly revolving around 4x4s and crossovers. Just look at the Range Rover SVA and Bentley Bentayga.So what, at this moment, do we know about the Rolls-Royce take on the genre?It"s a response to customer demand"Many discerning customers have urged us to develop this car," read an open letter published by Rolls-Royce in February 2015. And there have certainly been suggestions from within Rolls that there was no hasty decision about meeting that demand."The question is, does it fit to the Rolls-Royce brand?" board member Peter Schwarzenbauer said in 2014. "They had the same discussions at BMW before they made the first X5. No doubt at Porsche before the Cayenne too."It will keep with "the greatest traditions" of Rolls-Royce"Rolls-Royces conveyed pioneers and adventurers like Lawrence of Arabia across the vastness of unexplored deserts and over mountain ranges," continued that open letter. "We are creating a motor car in the greatest traditions of our marque."It has promised a car that"s "as much about the pioneering, adventurous spirit of Charles Rolls as it is about Sir Henry Royce"s dedication to engineering and innovation."But beyond such sentimentalism, we can expect the poshest SUV around, a "magic carpet" ride and exclusivity by the bucket load. Which meansIt will be expensiveWhile a Macan offers a friendlier way into a Porsche than a 911 does, don"t expect the Rolls SUV to do the same in its respective range. Nope. You"ll need at least 250,000 for one, we reckon, but you"ll be buying into an exclusive club.Big cars like this may have swelled other carmakers" profits, but Rolls is determined to keep its sales controlled to keep its customers happy, just like Ferrari."Our strategy is that we will never offer a car priced lower than Ghost", Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten M ller- tv s told TG last year. "We want to keep exclusivity very high. I think it"s exactly right what [Ferrari] did. They were limiting themselves to certain numbers."A luxury brand should not be for volume, it should always be for profit. And that"s exactly the target I"m getting from the BMW group. We are not in the volume business, rest assured."It will sit upon Rolls"s new aluminium platform
Date: 7 Jan 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 1614
Rolls-Royce is developing an SUV. Or, as Britain"s plushest car manufacturer would prefer it, a new model that can "cross any terrain". That ought to be anything from a Waitrose car park to the gravel driveway of your out-of-town manor.We jest, of course. This is a car that makes perfect sense for Rolls, with the luxury car market increasingly revolving around 4x4s and crossovers. Just look at the Range Rover SVA and Bentley Bentayga.So what, at this moment, do we know about the Rolls-Royce take on the genre?It"s a response to customer demand"Many discerning customers have urged us to develop this car," read an open letter published by Rolls-Royce in February 2015. And there have certainly been suggestions from within Rolls that there was no hasty decision about meeting that demand."The question is, does it fit to the Rolls-Royce brand?" board member Peter Schwarzenbauer said in 2014. "They had the same discussions at BMW before they made the first X5. No doubt at Porsche before the Cayenne too."It will keep with "the greatest traditions" of Rolls-Royce"Rolls-Royces conveyed pioneers and adventurers like Lawrence of Arabia across the vastness of unexplored deserts and over mountain ranges," continued that open letter. "We are creating a motor car in the greatest traditions of our marque."It has promised a car that"s "as much about the pioneering, adventurous spirit of Charles Rolls as it is about Sir Henry Royce"s dedication to engineering and innovation."But beyond such sentimentalism, we can expect the poshest SUV around, a "magic carpet" ride and exclusivity by the bucket load. Which meansIt will be expensiveWhile a Macan offers a friendlier way into a Porsche than a 911 does, don"t expect the Rolls SUV to do the same in its respective range. Nope. You"ll need at least 250,000 for one, we reckon, but you"ll be buying into an exclusive club.Big cars like this may have swelled other carmakers" profits, but Rolls is determined to keep its sales controlled to keep its customers happy, just like Ferrari."Our strategy is that we will never offer a car priced lower than Ghost", Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten M ller- tv s told TG last year. "We want to keep exclusivity very high. I think it"s exactly right what [Ferrari] did. They were limiting themselves to certain numbers."A luxury brand should not be for volume, it should always be for profit. And that"s exactly the target I"m getting from the BMW group. We are not in the volume business, rest assured."It will sit upon Rolls"s new aluminium platform
Date: 7 Jan 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 1614