Recently Rolls Royce started to offer a new car; small, affordable, more accessible, for every day. That's Rolls Royce Ghost which costs more than £200,000 in UK without any options or any other customization! When you consider with its big brother Rolls Royce Phantom and mega yachts, Ghost is a reasonable luxury car. Unlike Phantom, it is designed to be driven by its owner :) When you buy a Phantom, you are not supposed to drive by yourself, you have it have a driver! And this huge problem of hiring someone to drive your Rolls Royce emerged the idea of Ghost :)
Ghost is based on BMW 7 Series, as we expected. BMW is the owner of Rolls Royce Cars. I can guess, many people are saying; this is not a proper Rolls Royce, it is owned and produced by BMW. However this debate about automotive industry reminded me the Greek Philosophers which I studied during my undergraduate years. As I could remember they were relating every material to nature and this means everything is produced by nature. I hope I don't remember wrong :) The debates about car companies are similar to this, Rolls Royce owned by BMW and other owned by someone else! So What? I am not happy with this but if they have relationship like BMW and Rolls Royce, they don't have any problem.
Ghost is based on BMW 7 Series, they are sharing same V12 engine, same transmission and many other parts which we don't see from outside. However, Ghost is not like a 7 Series! Its design denies any relationship with 7 Series and proofs that it is a totally different car. Even though I didn't have any chance to see this car in real life, even the pictures can be considered as a solid proof. Every single detail, from outside to inside reflects the Rolls Royce heritage. The suicide doors, power reserve dial on dash board, umbrella hidden inside the door, climate control dials.
They are showing that, this car is a proper Rolls Royce. Unfortunately, BMW's stupid iDrive can be seen inside but it does not seem like the original iDrive. I hope that, it won't be useless like in BMW's. One of the interesting features of Ghost is its suspensions; Ghost is riding on air springs which help to increase comfort and isolate passengers from the road. These suspensions also have same something very interesting! Suspension system can understand the where the rear passenger is sitting and adjust the suspension to maximize the comfort for that side. Anything else?
Ghost is a great car! I love Phantom but I would not wish to drive one, it is a car to be driven by someone. This can be added to list of dream cars. Despite its huge price tag, what Ghost is offering is worth all that money. I can say one more thing; Ghost is a contemporary interpretation of Rolls Royce :)
Pictures are from;
Rolls Royce Website