It's an entirely reasonable question: What, exactly makes a $425,000 car worth more than four times a $100,000 car? Welcome to the new Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, which exude the coiled menace of a heavyweight boxer in a form-fitted Armani suit. By Eric Peters
We live in a time when formerly exotic, fancy car-only amenities such as heated leather seats and multi-zoned climate control air conditioning have become commonplace staples of the minivan and family car market. Sixty-thousand-dollar SUVs with 300-horsepower engines and DVD entertainment systems are fixtures of modern suburbia. Six-figure cars are not what they once were. Even a V-12 engine is no longer the sole province of the ultra-elite. The bar has been raised considerably.
This “routinization of affluence” has affected all high-end carmakers — but it’s a particular challenge for those at the very top of the automotive food chain such as Rolls-Royce.
Formerly a world unto itself, in recent years, the brand once synonymous with hand-built old world craftsmanship and absolute luxury has had to contend with the unprecedented gentrification of the common car. And, more dauntingly, the mass production of the formerly exclusive.
Rolls has also had to deal with an unprecedented demographic shift among its buyer base. The all-influencing baby boomer generation is rapidly supplanting the traditional purchaser in the ultra-luxury segment (as everywhere else), and this new kind of buyer expects excitement and athleticism as much as exclusivity and no-compromises comfort. The company’s massive Phantom sedan embodies the company traditions of elegance and presence — but for the younger set, who pine for two fewer doors and a bit more verve, it’s a case of trying to sell an older man’s car to a younger man. And that simply won’t do.
This was the nature of the challenge facing Rolls managers as they contemplated the future — and what would be the first new Rolls-Royce Motor Car since the introduction of the current Phantom back in 2003.
The task of conceptualizing the next generation Rolls fell to a team headed by exterior designer Marek Djordjevic and chief designer Ian Cameron.
And what they eventually came up with was twins — a matched set of low-slung two-door “sport models.” The first to appear would be the 100EX — a dramatic four-seat convertible; the other a seductive hardtop coupe called the 101EX — with the “EX” in both cases being shorthand for “experimental,” as Rolls often refers to its design studies and concepts.
The introduction of the 100EX was timed to coincide with the 100-year anniversary of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars — while the “EX” designations stretch back to the 1919 1EX, the very first Rolls “experimental” model. That car was based on the Silver Ghost, perhaps one of the best-ever names an automaker has bestowed upon an automobile.
“Experimental” cars are closer to production-ready than the typical concept car — which may just be a shell without a functioning drivetrain. These two, however, are complete cars in every respect, and it was recently announced that a convertible inspired by the 100EX will be in production in 2007, with a price tag of around $425,000. Indeed, an automaker rarely puts this level of detail into a car that’s just for show, and Rolls executives have been heard referring to the 100EX as the “Corniche” on several occasions. It’s a safe bet that at least a few examples of both cars will eventually be assembled for a handful of exceedingly well-heeled customers.
Both the 100EX and the 101EX are based, to an extent, on the existing Phantom sedan’s underlying structure — its “platform,” in auto industry jargon. But each is considerably shorter (by 10 inches) as well as narrower (by nearly 3 inches) relative to the Phantom.
A “fast” windshield with a steep rake combines with a lowered roofline and “boat-tail” rear treatment — and though the company doesn’t make the association, the overall effect is to recall in the mind’s eye the coach-built classics of the art-deco era of the 1920s and 1930s — cars like the Deusenberg SJ, Auburn speedster, and Delahaye Type 15M. Billet aluminum for the windshield bracing extends to the hood, another dramatic styling departure from the more formal and upright posture of the Phantom, while enormous 21-inch billet aluminum wheels are snugged into the wheelwells. Exhaust tips and door handles are likewise hewn from single ingots of billet aluminum. An illuminated glass version of the Rolls-Royce Spirit of Ecstasy “flying lady” hood ornament caps things off as the pièce de résistance. All that’s missing is Clark Gable behind the wheel.
“We intended to use the silhouette to express the performance potential, yet reflect the effortless composure typical of Rolls-Royce design rather than the aggressive, forward-wedged stance of most modern performance cars,” explains designer Djordjevic.
Thus, while the 100EX and its hardtop sister car remain very large and imposing cars — each with a gross weight of nearly 6,000 pounds, comparable to the weight of a full-size SUV — they exude the coiled menace of a heavyweight boxer in a form-fitted Armani suit. The electronically governed 149-mph top speed (vs. a more pedestrian 130 for the Phantom) is further evidence of the different missions envisioned for these new breed Rolls-Royces.
Of course, “waftability” remains, as ever, a paramount consideration.
Coined in 1907 by an automotive writer attempting to convey the effortless power delivery of the Rolls-Royce he had test-driven, the term quickly became part of the official company vernacular — and more than that, an engineering guideline as to how a Rolls-Royce ought to behave. To that end, both cars are propelled by a 6.75 liter, direct-injection V-12 engine developing the tremendous output of 453 horsepower and 531 pounds-feet of torque, three-fourths of which is available at very low engine speeds (1,000 rpm). This provides for an effortlessly powerful 0 to 60 in just over five seconds.
Though production examples will naturally be built to order, including the customer’s choice of exterior and interior color, the show-car version of the 100EX is trimmed with hand-fitted bleached teak decking along with the extensive use of polished aluminum for both exterior and interior trim. This theme reflects exterior designer Djordjevic’s goal of imbuing the car with the ambience of “an elegant motor yacht at speed.” The convertible’s two-tone exterior is finished in dark curzon, with meteor silver accents including hand-polished 21-inch wheels.
For the 101EX coupe, a different palette was selected — dark tungsten, with smoke-gray leather for the interior, set off with navy accents and red oak and rosewood hand-fitted trim panels. Designer Alan Sheppard is the man responsible for the overall layout.
As in the convertible, the coupe’s doors are hinged at the rear and open automatically at the touch of a button. This was done to provide better access to the interior, and so that occupants would not have to “fall into” the car, in the manner of less dignified, mass-produced vehicles. A “curved sofa” rear seat is “intimate for two, yet superbly comfortable on longer journeys.” And of course, there are monogrammed “RR” umbrellas in the fender.
But the most stunning feature of the 101EX is its planetarium-themed interior headliner, which is fitted with scores of fiber optic pinpoints for a starlight effect in the evening. A rheostat allows the ambient light to be adjusted from nighttime sky to reading-light levels, just the ticket for gently wafting along to the destination of your choice, swaddled in the kind of luxury that’s far from routine.
Even today. And at any price.