Written BY: l.baratti
There is new speculation that Rolls-Royce is planning an electric limousine, which would be rechargeable... with zero emissions.
Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes confirmed on Monday that ‘all options’ for alternatively-fuelled vehicles were being considered by the company. He was speaking at Rolls-Royce's announcement of record figures for annual car sales seen in 2010, which were up 171 percent on the 2009 numbers of 1,002 cars and more than doubled its previous sales record (set back in 2008) of 1,212 cars.
Mueller-Oetvoes told the Daily Mail that today's wealthy women are fuelling the boom in sales, and now account for up to 10 percent of its sales of the £196,000 Ghost, a more compact and ‘less formal’ Royce saloon than the massive Phantom.
He suggested that women are attracted to the car’s ‘masculinity’, saying, "Women love their Ghosts. But they are not buying a car for women. Rolls-Royce is a male brand. And women like that."
Pop star and ‘X Factor’ judge Cheryl Cole has one of the the smaller ‘baby’ Rollers, and Madonna's ex-husband, movie director Guy Ritchie, took delivery of one before Christmas. On the whole, the company now sells about three Ghosts to every one Phantom.
The company's £300,000 flagship model Phantom currently manages just 15 miles to the gallon, making it hardly a car for the carbon-conscious.
When the Daily Mail pressed Mueller-Oetvoes before Christmas that a super-green electric Rolls-Royce for the super-rich with a conscience, using the latest in environmentally-friendly technology, would make an ideal new ‘experimental’ model, he acknowledged it would be a ‘good idea’.
Traditionally, Rolls-Royce has produced one-off ‘experimental’ models to showcase to potential the luxury car company’s latest technological advances. However, he went on to say, "We are not going to make any rash decisions. It would be wrong for the brand and wrong for our customers if we were to take a decision without fully exploring all options."
Perhaps a super-green car for the wealthy could be on the road in time for the 2012 Olympics in London, where parent-company BMW will be showcasing its ground-breaking electric and environmentally-friendly technology to the world while ferrying 80,000 VIPs to and from the venues. BMW, which also owns British-based MINI, has already successfully launched an electric-powered MINI-E, along with several other low-emissions consumer models.
With the world’s eyes watching, the Games could present the perfect opportunity for British automotive's most prestigious maker to showcase just such a vehicle running on electric power, or even a fuel-cell.
