Fenice Milano Previews Ghost-based Diva, Rolls-Royce Fans Cringe In Horror

In an apparent homage to Mansory, creator of such elegant eyesores as a gold-and-blue Rolls-Royce Ghost and a pink Continental GT, Italian firm Fenice Milano has created a handful of garish photoshops as a warning to car fans everywhere. Guys, if you need some fresh ideas, just ask (I'm here all week).

The car seen here is Fenice Milano's "Diva" and, for all intents and purposes, it's the kind of Ghost the "Opulence" commercial guy would drive with his 'wimmens' and giraffe in the back.

This is not the kind of "Italian elegance and style" I have come to expect from the boot-shaped Mediterranean country known for beautiful women, beautiful suits, beautiful cars, and beautiful food.

For those brave enough to consider the Diva, the car will be available in three colors: navy, bronze, and white (with 24k gold flakes); all three colors and a variety of color schemes can be seen below.

Inside, the car gets biscuit leather and 24k gold throughout, optional Alcantara inserts for the more ergonomically-designed seats, and wood trim that is supposedly limited to teak or grey oak.

Performance boosts of some sort are also mentioned, though with something called the Diva there's no telling what the ECU/intake/exhaust mods will do for it. On a more positive note, at least their website has some nice music to listen to.

By Phil Alex

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Rolls-Royce Planning to Expand Ghost Lineup with New Derivative

Rolls-Royce is planning a derivative of its Ghost uber-luxury sedan. The Ghost, which starts at US$245,000, is the 'baby' brother of the US$380,000 Phantom.

"I'm quite confident that we're going to see a Ghost derivative to come," said the British automaker's CEO, Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes in an interview reported by Bloomberg. "There's still a lot of potential in the market."

Mueller-Oetvoes would not elaborate on what the derivative would be, but hinted there may be more than one. The company is awaiting more feedback from its customers before committing to a bodystyle and timeframe for launch.

Rolls-Royce also announced that it is expanding its operations in China (the brand's biggest market after the United States), India and the Middle East. In spite of this, Mueller-Oetvoes has assured buyers that the brand will remain exclusive:

"We will definitely not end off in the tens of thousands of units. That's not the right strategy for us. Rolls-Royce always needs to stay very exclusive. We only build a car when there is a customer behind it."

Rolls-Royce suffered a 17% drop in sales in 2009 due to the global financial crisis. With the market now in recovery, Rolls aims to sell at least 2,000 cars in 2010. To date, the automaker has sold 1,467 cars worldwide, trailing Volkswagen-owned Bentley which had 2,489. Much of the growth has been attributed to the Ghost, which went on sale late last year.

By Tristan Hankins

Source: Bloomberg

Money Well Spent: Rolls Royce Ghosts Shredded in Iron Man 2 Were Real [with Video]

There's something to be said for keeping it real. Making a movie? Keep it real. Getting interrogated by the cops? DO NOT KEEP IT REAL.

While it's obvious that a film like Iron Man requires a planet's-worth of special effects, stuff like wrecking cars usually shouldn't. We all saw how poor choice of CGI affected Ithe fourth Indiana Jones movie.

That's why it's refreshing to see that some of the fancy cars destroyed in Iron Man 2 were real. Tony Stark's Rolls-Royce getting destroyed at a race in Monaco was legit (but filmed in California).

Rolls-Royce built two near-identical Phantoms for the filmmakers at $438,000 a pop. According to the New York Times' own Jerry Garrett, one has a cool box in the back and the other doesn't.

To get the cars all destructified, the body panels were stripped off and then rigged with charges. After they were put back on, everything was cleaned up using Bondo and a fine touch. Then it all got blown up.

The final resting place of the wrecked Rollers is a prop warehouse in Downey, California (no relation to the movie star).

On the other side of all this, none of the old-school racers provided by the Historic Grand Prix Association were hurt.

Fun facts: "The blue and white Stark Industries race car was driven by the stunt driver Tanner Foust. The yellow Kodak car, the only other vehicle that was capable of running had the driver's name of "Elon Musk" painted on the side. Mr. Musk, the chief executive of Tesla Motors, had allowed the filmmakers to use his SpaceX facility in Hawthorne, Calif., as the site of the film's "Hammer Industries." He also made a cameo appearance in the film." - Jerry Garrett

By Phil Alex

Via: NYT & eGMcartech

Rolls-Royce Releases Ghost App Configurator for iPhone, iPod Touch

Got an iPhone? Or maybe an iPod touch? Good, because that means you'll be able to download Rolls-Royce's first official smart phone application ever (and its free!). The app gives people the ability to customize their very own small roller, the Ghost.

If you've got the time there are a bunch of variables to choose from: 12 colors (although any color you can dream up they'll do), three kinds of wheels, and a Ghost-exclusive Silver Satin hood (although with the right investment, people could probably get it on any model they choose).

Inside, Rolls-Royce provides eight standard shades of leather and five different types of veneer, "including contemporary woods such as Dark Wenge and Malabar" (not Mallomar).

Other services provided by the app include a dealer locator, specs page, and a variety of media (pics and vids, or if you eat Grey Poupon, "images and films").

Also, much like other configurators, Rolls provides a virtual garage in which you can store your fake, digital car.

The Ghost App is available at the iTunes App Store now.

By Phil Alex

Rolls Royce Ghost: Baby Phantom with Twin-Turbo V12 Officially Revealed, 50 High-Res Photos

Rolls Royce has dropped the 'Full Monty' on its all-new Ghost, a smaller, more affordable and dare we say, more driver-orientated limo than the flagship Phantom. First announced at the 2006 Paris Motor Show, the Ghost was previewed at this year's Geneva Show in the form of the 200EX concept. As you can see in the photo album after the jump, the production model, which will compete head on with Bentley's Continental Flying Spur, is virtually unchanged from the concept.

The Ghost's exterior styling is clearly influenced by the Phantom featuring similar details such as the front-end design and the rear-hinged coach doors that open to a generous 83 degrees, with the overall look being slightly softer and more rounded than that of the larger Rolls.

Buyers will be able to opt for a contrasting Silver Satin finish for the bonnet, grille and windscreen surround, as seen on the 200EX concept.

Not surprisingly, the Phantom also inspired the Ghost's interior styling that features a similar dashboard layout and all the "usual" luxury amenities and high quality materials expected from a car with a six-figure price tag. Individual lounge seating is offered as an alternative to the standard lounge configuration, which allows the addition of a massage function and also perforated leather for a cooling stream of air from the seat surface -sic...

Rolls Royce says that while Ghost is over 400mm (16-in.) shorter overall than the Phantom saloon its interior space is comparable.

Underneath the sheetmetal, the Ghost's underpinnings borrow heavily from the long-wheelbase BMW 7-Series, meaning that the baby Rolls ditches the Phantom's aluminum spaceframe construction for a steel monocoque body.

The Ghost rides on a double-wishbone front suspension and multi-link rear suspension that work in conjunction with a high-tech, four-cornered air-suspension system and electronic variable damping. The company claims that the new air suspension system is so sensitive that it can detect even the movement of a single rear passenger from one side of the seat to the other and compensate accordingly. The system also incorporates a lift and kneel function, raising or lowering Ghost by 25mm.

"Our challenge," says Engineering Director Helmut Riedl, "has been to preserve the prerequisite levels of comfort while delivering the most modern, dynamically interesting drive ever in a Rolls-Royce."

As expected, the Ghost also gets all sorts of electronic aids that include Anti-Roll Stabilization, Dynamic Brake Control and Dynamic Stability Control, including Dynamic Traction Control and Cornering Brake Control.

Motivating the 5,399mm / 212.2-in. long and 2,435kg / 5.368 behemoth is a brand-new 6.6-liter twin-turbocharged V12 engine with direct injection that makes 570 horsepower at 5,250 rpm and a maximum torque of 780Nm or 575 lb-ft at just 1,500 rpm. Power is transmitted to the rear-wheels through an eight-speed, shift-by-wire, automatic ZF gearbox.

The limo is said to accelerate from zero to 100km/h in 4.9 sec (0-60mph: 4.7 sec) and go on to an electronically governed top speed of 250km/h or 155mph while returning an average fuel consumption of 13.6 lt /100 km (17.3 mpg US or 20.8 mpg UK) and emitting 317g/km of CO2.

The Ghost will make its world debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany later this month and go on sale in Europe towards the end of the year with prices in the UK starting from £165,000 ($272,000 US or €191,000) excluding taxes and delivery charges. In other markets including the USA and Asia Pacific region, the Ghost will begin to arrive at showrooms from the second quarter of 2010.