Rolls-Royce announces a new model and, no, it’s not an SUV

By Stephen Edelstein August 5, 2014

The announcement of a new Rolls-Royce used to be a special occasion, but that’s no longer the case now that the company has adopted a less-glacial product planning pace.

Over the past couple of years, Rolls has released the all-new Wraith coupe, as well as updated Phantom and Ghost sedans. Now, there’s another new Roller on the way.

The company confirmed that it is developing a new model, which will reach showrooms by mid 2016.

Details are scarce; Rolls didn’t even provide the customary teaser photo. It did say that the new car will “deliver effortless, open-top touring,” so at least the body style isn’t a mystery.

This could be a convertible version of the Wraith, a model that would sit beneath the larger Phantom Drophead Coupe, just as the Wraith and Ghost are little siblings to the Phantom Coupe and Sedan, respectively.

That would mean this new model would ride on the same platform as the Wraith and Ghost, but feature different styling. The Wraith’s dramatic fastback roofline would have to be nixed to make way for a folding top.

The new model will likely get its own name; the Wraith isn’t called the Ghost Coupe, after all. In keeping with Rolls-Royce tradition, it will almost certainly have a spiritual theme.

Spectre would sound pretty cool, or perhaps Shadow, which would reference the many past Rolls models named Silver Shadow, and a certain vigilante with the power to cloud men’s minds.

However it turns out, this new model should calm Rolls purists who were unnerved by talk of the carmaker following Bentley’s lead and making its next vehicle an SUV.

Unless the model in question is actually a convertible SUV a la Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet, in which case the end times may be upon us.

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Stephen Edelstein

Contributing Editor

Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…

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