Two Marchs ago, Rolls-Royce unveiled the 100EX concept car at the Geneva Motor Show. The two-door, four-seat convertible had been designed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the British marque. That day Rolls said the car would appear at various events throughout 2004 to help mark the centenary, but there was no plan to produce the 100EX as a series model.
Five months later, Rolls announced it would build a two-door, four-seat convertible at its plant in Goodwood, England, and expected the car to be unveiled in 2007.
Code-named "RR02," Rolls-Royce says the new model will be based on the same engineering principles as its Phantom sedan and built using similar aluminum space-frame chassis technology, which also provided the basis for, you guessed it, the 100EX. "Its design," says the press release, "is inspired by the Rolls-Royce Centenary experimental car, named 100EX, although it will be slightly smaller." Less powerful, too. Instead of the concept's 9.0-liter V16, the production car will be powered by the Phantom's 6.8-liter V12.
With the car admittedly going into production, we asked the designer of the 100EX, Marek Djordjevic, to give us a walk around his elegant creation. Djordjevic, who also designed the exterior of the Phantom, and the rest of the design team that shaped the 100EX were based in Southern California, at BMW Group's studio, Designworks.
"We intended the silhouette to express the performance potential, yet reflect the effortless composure typical of Rolls-Royce design rather than the aggressive, forward-wedged stance of most modern performance cars," he explained. "Visually we wanted to build on the Rolls-Royce tradition of 'waftability', the sense that 100EX has the power to whisk its passengers swiftly to maximum speed in a truly relaxed manner."
Five months later, Rolls announced it would build a two-door, four-seat convertible at its plant in Goodwood, England, and expected the car to be unveiled in 2007.
Code-named "RR02," Rolls-Royce says the new model will be based on the same engineering principles as its Phantom sedan and built using similar aluminum space-frame chassis technology, which also provided the basis for, you guessed it, the 100EX. "Its design," says the press release, "is inspired by the Rolls-Royce Centenary experimental car, named 100EX, although it will be slightly smaller." Less powerful, too. Instead of the concept's 9.0-liter V16, the production car will be powered by the Phantom's 6.8-liter V12.
With the car admittedly going into production, we asked the designer of the 100EX, Marek Djordjevic, to give us a walk around his elegant creation. Djordjevic, who also designed the exterior of the Phantom, and the rest of the design team that shaped the 100EX were based in Southern California, at BMW Group's studio, Designworks.
"We intended the silhouette to express the performance potential, yet reflect the effortless composure typical of Rolls-Royce design rather than the aggressive, forward-wedged stance of most modern performance cars," he explained. "Visually we wanted to build on the Rolls-Royce tradition of 'waftability', the sense that 100EX has the power to whisk its passengers swiftly to maximum speed in a truly relaxed manner."
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