new auto cars 2012: Rolls Royce

2012 Rolls Royce Phantom

2012 Rolls Royce Phantom: One car that belongs to the aforementioned ‘rare-of-a-kind’ group is the Rolls Royce Phantom Extend Wheelbase. Just by its mere presence alone, this special Phantom can already draw an audience, but if you add this exterior styling package to the Phantom EW courtesy of Wald International, then that’s just rubbing it in.

The package is called the ‘Sports Line Black Bison Edition’, and it comes with a bevy of new modifications, including a new front bumper, front fender vents, LED daytime running lights, modified side skirts, an extended rear bumper, a trunk-mounted spoiler, and a set of 24” forged Renovatio wheels. While the package came with plenty of styling modifications, the powertrain was left largely untouched. What this means is that this Wald International tricked-out Phantom retains the same 6.75-liter V12 engine that produces 453 horsepower with a top speed of 150 mph.

2012 Rolls Royce Phantom

2012 Rolls Royce Phantom Interior

2012 Rolls Royce Phantom

Rolls Royce Cars 2011

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars was acquired by the BMW Group in 1998. These days, Rolls-Royce models look more like ordinary cars again (albeit very smart ones), instead of five-star hotel lounges on wheels. The latest Phantom, launched in 2003, shows all the care in design and power in performance that have characterised the company’s cars over the previous century. Easy-access coach doors that open from the centre, a curved rear seat that facilitates a feeling of sociability between passengers, umbrellas that sit in compartments in the rear doors: everything has been thought of. A new one will cost you around £250,000.

Production is now carried on at a specially designed, environmentally friendly facility at Goodwood in West Sussex. This is not far from the famour Motor Museum at Beaulieu, and only 20 miles from Henry Royce’s final home, a house called Elmstead in the village of West Wittering. The nearby Goodwood racing circuit is used for testing new cars, and overseas orders can be shipped from the port of Southampton. It feels like a fitting home for what remains the world’s most prestigious car maker.