The 2010 Rolls Royce Ghost: We’ve seen the “experimental” car, we’ve heard some facts, and now Rolls-Royce is releasing more details of the compact—by Rolls-Royce standards—automobile that will debut at the Frankfurt Auto Show in September.
The Ghost, known as the RR4 until its production name was revealed at the Shanghai Auto Show in April, is known to significantly resemble the EX200, which Rolls refers to as an experimental vehicle because Rolls-Royce doesn’t do concepts, which was unveiled at the Geneva show in March. The Ghost, then still the RR4, was clearly described as the “production version of the EX200.”
Rolls-Royce has now released more detail about the Ghost. Rolls-Royce engineering director Helmut Riedl stated that as a Rolls, the Ghost needs “effortless composure and refined power delivery “While having previously stated that horsepower would be in excess of 500, the new 6.6-liter turbocharged V-12 engine has prodigious output: 563 hp at 5250 rpm and 575 lb-ft of torque “low down,” in Riedl’s words, at 1500 rpm.
The engine will be paired with an 8-speed automatic transmission from ZF.
The Rolls-Royce Ghost won’t have anything so crude as steel springs, rather relying on an “intelligent” four-corner air springs with a multi-link aluminum suspension layout. Individual functions including active roll stabilization, variable shock absorbers are coordinated, says Rolls, to perform subtly and sensitively enough to adjust for a back seat passenger moving from one side of the car to the other.
The suspension also includes a “lift and kneel” function, raising or lowering the Ghost by an inch to ease entry or exit or provide extra ground clearance.
Says Riedl, “Ghost is about fingertip control while still enjoying a dynamic connection with the road. Equally, passengers need to be cosseted from the physical sensations of acceleration, braking and cornering.”
Bloody likely there. Rolls cites a 0-60 mph time of 4.7 seconds, certainly capable of shoving the Grey Poupon back into the cossets. Top speed is electronically limited to 155 mph.
Riedl says, however, that the chassis is set up to keep the Ghost “stable and flat, preventing it from wallowing and pitching in the corners or imposing undesirable forces on those inside.”
True, and certainly the help will be able to get the mustard stains out of the cossets.
Rolls also claims the Ghost will be as quiet as, well, a Rolls-Royce, with engine, exhaust and tire noise engineered to be “inaudible as far as possible,” both inside and out.
Deliveries of the 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost will begin in the UK and Europe in late 2009, with prices beginning at ?165,000 (about $272,000 at the current exchange rate). The Ghost will haunt our shores and the Asia Pacific region beginning in the second quarter of 2010.
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