The Rolls-Royce Phantom is a luxury saloon (sedan) automobile made by Rolls-Royce. It was launched in 2003 and is the first Rolls-Royce model made under the ownership of BMW. It has a 6.75 L, 48 valve, V12 engine that produces 453 hp (337.8 kW) and 531 ft.lbf (719.9 Nm) of torque. It is 1.6 m (63 in) tall, 1.9 m (74.8 in). wide, 5.8 m (228.3 in) long, and weighs 2485 kg (5478.5 lb). The body of the car is built on an aluminum spaceframe and the Phantom can accelerate to 60 mph in 5.7 s. It has a six-speed automatic transmission and double wishbone suspension and instead of a tachometer it has a novel 'power reserve' dial telling you how much of the engine's power is left available to the driver. Its main primary rivals are the Bentley Arnage and the DaimlerChrysler-produced Maybach 57 and 62. The cost of running one of these cars is huge. An example of this is when after three years with a new price of £250,000 the car will be worth £110,000.
Although the car is built by BMW, the Phantom shares little or no parts with the rest of the BMW range. The intention was to avoid being seen as just an extension to the range. Mercedes was criticized of producing the ultimate Mercedes instead of a separately branded car; BMW learned from this lesson. While the Maybach showroom in London also sells the most basic of Mercedes products, there are separate Roll-Royce showroom where BMWs are not sold.
Sales
As of October 2004, only 555 Phantoms were sold, down from a target of 1,000 units. Many say this is due to the slow set-up of the dealer network. By the end of the year the company expect to have sold between 750 and 800. However, at this stage Rolls-Royce is selling twice as many cars as its closest rival, the Maybach 57 and 62.
