Rolls Royce just sent out press shots ahead of the Geneva debut of the new Phantom Coupe, and I don't mean to be a buzzkill but is this really it? In its corner it has: more exclusivity than the Holy Grail, phenomenal hand-built craftsmanship and materials, a 450 horsepower V12, suicide front door, a B-pillarless design, and a trick trunk. Against it: I don't think it really looks that good. In fact, this design language just might be better suited to the locomotive sedan and the Drophead Coupe (that's convertible, to us serfs). It's so bulky with such a high roofline, it has top hat proportions that don't suit it all that well. Rolls says it's likely to be purchased by robber barons, shipping industralists, and professional athletes who already have a Phantom and/or Drophead Coupe and apparently no taste for variety. The PR folk at Rolls are also marketing this as a "driver's car" to which I say: if you want a rare, high performance GT, try a Ferrari 599. If you insist that it's British, then you've got the stunning Aston Martin DB9. And even if it must be rare, high performance, British, and have a functional back seat, then there's the better looking (and admittedly outdated) Bentley Brooklands. It is for this reason – and not the $400,000 price tag – that this writer will not be commissioning one. Of course, you may disagree.
[Rolls Royce Phantom Pixamo slide show here.]
Suicide doors on a coupe? Is there precedent for this sort of thing?
Or is this, as I suspect, a needless affectation. You know, scissor doors for people who love scissor doors (and may even own a car with a pair) but know that they’re hopelessly crass.
I’m sorry, but this design language seems borrowed from a Chrysler 300. They should leave modern barge design to Bentley and go back to building classics.
Is it turbocharged?
I’m asking cause the regular Phantom isn’t, and also has about 450 HP that come from what is basically a V12 BMW 760i engine with 6.75 liter displacement like all the old rollers (and Bentleys)
Now the Brooklands, that’s turbocharged (in fact I think it has two turbos)
Apart from that I agree with your view. I like the regular Phantom (and the stretched ones) but the drop head coupe not so much and this non-drop head coupe not at all.
Suicide doors on a coupe? Is there precedent for this sort of thing?
32 Ford 3-window springs to mind
I don’t mind the body but the headlights are hideous. Also whats with the little KKK guy in picture #15?
The A-pillars look hinky to me. I guess the triangular window improves visibility through a bulky pillar, but it looks strange.
It’s academic anyway. If I had 400 large to kill it wouldn’t be on a car.
The thing that is depressing is remembering when American car manufacturers used to build great-looking large coupes, too. Sure they were impractical, but I do miss the Coupe deVille, the Eldorado, the Riviera, Toronado, the huge full-size Thunderbird, the Lincoln Continental Mark-series, even the 2-door hardtop versions of the Imperial, New Yorker, Three-Hundred, Electra, Ninety-Eight, Marquis.
OMG, that is an ugly car. I cannot fathom who spends nearly 1/2 of a million dollars on such a thing?
And boy, talk about depreciation! Put 100k miles on these things and they loose 80-90% of their “value”.
With a Maserati Quattroporte available for around $110k or a Bentley at about $180k anyone who buys a new Rolls is seriously addled.
On looks alone the Maserati is one of the few high priced cars which delivers!
The Brooklands has more power and more style
For me it looks like the hybrid baby of a classic locomotive and a speed boat
Dean is right about the A-pillars. But think back to American cars from the late 50s. They had wraparound windshields which were all glass. This just looks like they cheaped out on the windshield which is something you don’t do in this price range.
If somebody actually wants this thing, they are not going to care that the Maserati or the Bentley is a better buy for the money.