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 companys 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 Royces 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 worlds most prestigious car maker.
Rolls Royce is ready with its new luxury ammunition here in India. The British luxury auto maker is going to roll out the all new 2014 Rolls Royce Wraith in August. If Ford Mustang represents the fastback GT car for the world than the Rolls Royce Wraith will account for that space here in India. Wraith is said to be the most powerful Rolls Royce car ever built from the iconic auto major of the world whose model line-up is graced with the magnificent vroomers like Phantom and Ghost.
It’s like a season of revivals, Nissan has come back with Datsun, Skoda Octavia is brought back from the dead and now with the Wraith, Rolls Royce is going to resurrect an almost eighty year old nameplate; the name remerges to become the sportiest and the most powerful and luxurious offering in the premium segment.
To be launched in the Indian market where it will be positioned between the Ghost and Phantom models, the Rolls Royce Wraith price tag is likely to carry a figure of Rs. 4 crore. The price may vary as per the exchange rate situation in August.
Rolls Royce Wraith, the new fastback GT may not look like a flagship Rolls Royce product at first glance; however, the overall package speaks of dynamism, performance and power that such segment cars promise to offer. ‘Wraith’ yet another synonym of the Ghost and Phantom, seem to carry forward the legacy and is spawned on the company’s model, Ghost. Apparently, Rolls Royce Ghost chassis went under the scalpel to achieve alterations in order to come out as Wraith.
The length has been shortened by 130mm with 43mm reductions as compared to the height of the Ghost but when it came to the width, Rolls Royce added 40mm to the dimensions of Ghost to form the chassis of the Wraith. The siblings, Rolls Royce Ghost and Wraith are akin to each in terms of design. The difference emerges in the number of doors only; Wraith comes with two fewer doors than the Ghost and will also be one of the models introduced by the brand where the owner will not take a back seat but will be the one taking a seat behind the wheels of this luxuriously potent vehicle.
The cabin area is exactly what the world expects from the British marquee, Rolls Royce. The ambience oozes plushness, right from the material quality of leather and wood and the seemingly never-ending list of bells and whistles. The Rolls Royce Wraith offers luxury never thought before and introduces a system wherein the well-bred passengers don’t have to pull the door of the car in order to get it shut; they just press a button on the door and it’s all done.
