An electric Rolls Royce Phantom and Rolls Royce Ghost in 2010?

24.11.2007 / Goodwood - Cairo - Abu Dhabi /

While Rolls Royce was unveiling the Ghost in Abu Dhabi we received an interesting rumor from Europe.
Sources say that at the last Goodwood Festival the Rolls Royce spokesperson Richard Carter stated that an electric engine would be great in a limousine like the Phantom, since most of its owners use it to drive around the city or downtown, use it for short distances to events, meetings or as a luxury shuttle to the airport. They rarely use the Phantom for long-distance trips. That suggests that the hybrid-typical problem of autonomy would be skipped in case of an electric Rolls Royce.

Richard Carter also revealed that the necessary and bulky pack of lithium-ion batteries would hardly be noticed due to the big size of the Phantom.

Carter also revealed that plenty of Rolls Royce fans would be interested in an electric version, even though it would surely be more expensive, especially since Rolls Royce fans always pay more for exclusive options.

And since the decision-makers at BMW are the ones who would approve such an ultra-luxury electric car, rumors are saying it seems this decision is now very close to be taken, as BMW became now the official car supplier for the 2010 London Olympic Games. After a very intense fight with Nissan-Renault to become the official car supplier of the 2010 London Olympic Games, in which green electric and hybrid cars were used as a 'unique selling point', BMW won the deal and therefor rumors started spreading around that BMW will launch an electric Phantom within just 12 months to be used as the flagship of the BMW shuttle fleet at the London Olympics.

As before with the MINI E and the BMW 7 series Hydrogen, the Rolls Royce Phantom will probably only be available through a lease to potential customers.

So, would the Rolls Royce Hybrid be a hit in the Middle East? Well, that is quite possible as the environmental awareness is growing noticeably in the Gulf region. I could very well imagine a lot of Rolls Royce Hybrids in the garages and villas of the new completely-CO2-free city Masdar in the Abu Dhabi emirate.

Other chronically-congested cities like Cairo will unfortunately not benefit from such an electric Rolls Royce Phantom in the near future, as we were informed a few days ago that there is no official Rolls Royce dealer in Egypt anymore. Hopefully that will change soon, as an electric Rolls Royce Phantom or Rolls Royce Ghost would surely find at least 50-100 customers annually in Egypt, which would enjoy a lot of tax- and customs-deductions because of the 'Hybrid' or 'Electric' badge.

MS