By John LeBlanc for MSN Autos Canada
While most automakers simply can’t help themselves and have already spilled the bans on their debuts for next week’s Geneva Motor Show, a few have shown some measure of restraint. Here’s a short list of automaker’s that have teased us with their unveilings. Which one are you most excited to eventually see?
By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos
Day 2 of the Geneva Motor Show press preview is in the books and there's an interesting blend of production models and far-out concepts. Cars like the Ferrari FF, the Jaguar XKR-S, Morgan trike, and even the Hyundai i40 Wagon are early show favourites, but others like the Smart ForSpeed we discussed yesterday, the yawn-inducing Mitsubishi Global Small and Toyota Prius + leave us shaking our heads.
But no other image launched so many questions as that of a Rolls-Royce plugged into a wall socket. It's an experimental electric version of the world's most ostentatious automobile called 102EX. Gone is the near 7-litre gasoline V12, replaced by a battery featuring 96 separate cells that the company says can be recharged through inductive charging.
Why would this ever make sense? Every ultra-luxury brand is seeking more inroads into Russia, India and the like. Rolls-Royce owners don't care about fuel prices - usually because they sell those fuels to someone else. It's nearly as ridiculous as Bentley's claim that its Super Sports line are 'green' because they're tuned to run on ethanol. Six hundred horsepower? Irrelevant.
So, for? Against? Insulted? Intrigued?
By Greg Migliore, AutoWeek
Rolls-Royce is seriously considering an electric future and will reveal a battery-powered Phantom prototype at the Geneva auto show.
It's called the 102EX, or the Phantom Experimental Electric, and will tour the globe as a rolling test bed for Rolls-Royce this year.
By Mark Atkinson, MSN Autos
Think of modern Chinese cars, and what impression comes to mind? Poorly built? Cheap price tags? Safety concerns? Throw all of those preconceptions out the window for a moment. Imagine if, for a split second, Cadillac decided that it would start selling consumer versions of President Barack Obama’s diesel-powered armoured limousine. It would seem downright inconceivable, right? And how much could Cadillac rightly charge for the honour of owning one?
By Mark Atkinson, MSN Autos
Money obviously doesn’t buy taste. Too often we’re reminded of that with gigantic mega mansions, the destroyer-sized yachts moored in Monte Carlo and the increasingly gaudy and ostentatious modifications offered on otherwise beautiful new vehicles. Perhaps the worst in recent years is the Russian-built Dartz Promrbron mega-SUV that claims to offer an optional whale penis-lined interior.
Still, besides headline-grabbing one-offs, there are a few companies that consistently put out gloriously horrendously customized luxury vehicles. One such modifier is Swiss-based Mansory, which isn’t above creating a pink-on-pink Bentley Continental GT with a contrasting carbon-fibre hood. Still, Mansory’s latest offering is aimed squarely at oil-rich sheiks and Russian magnates.
By Justin Couture, Sympatico/MSN Autos
It isn't every day that Rolls-Royce unveils a concept car; when it does, it means that something new and important is on the way. Having already revealed teaser sketches of a smaller sedan last year code-named “RR4”, the ultra-premium brand will be showing off the near-production 200EX Concept in Geneva.
Since its takeover by BMW, the Rolls-Royce portfolio has consisted of what is essentially one car offered in three different styles, the Phantom sedan, the Phantom Coupe and Phantom Drophead Coupe (convertible). Fitting into the Rolls-Royce range below the Phantom line, the production version of the 200EX Concept will bring new blood into the Rolls family.
Justin Couture
Reportedly, the first word to come out of his mouth was "car," and since then it's evolved into a life-long passion. Justin is a fan of passionately engineered vehicles, but in general, loves the industry as much as the cars it produces. Justin is the Assistant Editor of MSN Autos, and manages The Passing Lane.
Mark Atkinson
Mark has a decade’s experience driving and writing about thousands of vehicles, and two decades before as an inveterate car nut and race fan. He’s also a first-time father, so you’ll need to excuse the occasional half-awake daddy rant about how his daughter’s car-seat won’t fit.
John LeBlanc
After a career in advertising and marketing, John decided to turn his jaundiced eye towards the world of cars. Since then, he's become one of Canada's most vociferous critics of the industry, delivering objective analysis of the new car scene.
