This week BMW wheels out its new Rolls-Royce Phantom. Michael McAleer reports
Since the marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert there has not been such an Anglo-German union in the British establishment as that between BMW and Rolls-Royce.
The fruit of the marriage- the all-new Rolls-Royce Phantom with a price tag here in the region of €600,000 - was put on show this week at Detroit after an initial unveiling last Friday. This took place at BMW's newly created plant on the grounds of a quintessentially English estate at Goodwood in West Sussex.
While Irish sales will be handled from Britain, BMW's Irish distributor Motor Import has received initial queries and expect single figure sales. This would be in keeping with the similarly priced Mercedes entrant, the Maybach, which reputedly has between six and ten Irish orders.
This latest mobile bank statement enters a decidedly overcrowded super-luxury market. The newcomer was codenamed RRO1 during one of the most secretive new car project developments ever.
The 19-feet-long (5.8 metre) Phantom is at the vanguard of BMW's push into the segment, in which motoring marques such as Rolls-Royce, Bentley (Volkswagen) and the Maybach (DaimlerChrysler) compete with luxury yachts for the attention of millionaires world-wide.
The limousine is cut from more modern, linear designs than its classic, curvy namesakes, the Phantom I, II and III which were hallmarks of aristocratic Britain.
The most striking feature is its new look front. While the car's body will be built at the Goodwood plant, its 6.75-litre V12 engine is being built in Munich and is the same unit hat powers the BMW flagship 760.
But the Phantom's price tag and its fittings, which include a humidified cigar case and door-mounted umbrella holsters, are in keeping with tradition.
The inside features leather, Cashmere trim and fitted cabinetry. Access is via coach doors, which open from the centre of the car. The rear doors are hinged at the back, very reminiscent of the classic Rolls-Royce era.
It's these added touches of class which differentiate it from the rest of the crowd. For instance, as it glides up to the kerb, the 2.4 tonne luxury leviathan may come to a gracious halt but the hubcaps will keep turning. They stop only when the Rolls-Royce badges on all four wheels are upright.
This new Rolls also really does go. BMW is confident that "most owners will spend most of the time driving themselves."
For such a large beast, the purpose-designed 460bhp 6.75-litre V12 engine has an impressive acceleration - from 0-60 mph in 5.7 seconds - and a limited top speed of 149 mph.
Peak torque is 720Nm, enough to pull a small plough, if you were so inclined. According to BMW, the Phantom returns a combined figure of a 17.8 mpg.
While the first car was delivered on New Year's Day to an unnamed "British collector", volume deliveries will not begin until spring.
Car-makers feel they have barely made inroads into the super luxury market and aim to nearly triple total global output to around 20,000 cars a year. BMW hopes to make 600 to 700 of the new Phantoms in 2003 alone and to eventually raise production to around 1,000.
The story of how this latest Anglo-German mix came about is a tale of intrigue, corporate divorce and a tangled web of rivalry. After 70 years of attachment between Bentley and Rolls-Royce, BMW officially took control on January 1st bringing an end to production of both marques at the famous Crewe plant. Originally Volkswagen and BMW fought to buy the Crewe operations from Vickers. VW won out but only later discovered the Rolls-Royce marque actually belonged to Rolls-Royce Aerospace who sold it to the Bavarians. There followed four years in which VW were "obliged" to to build Rolls Royces at Crewe.
But no longer. We are now set for a battle royal between the three German-controlled entrants. Bring on the high-rollers.