Numbers first, because with the Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupé they are the story: 6.75 , 460 PS. Rolls-Royce built from 2008 to 2016, in the decade of stability control, dual-clutch gearboxes and the first serious hybrids. Ian Cameron drew it.
Where it came from
The Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupé is a luxury car manufactured by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars that debuted at the 2008 Geneva International Motor Show in Geneva, Switzerland, on 6 March 2008. The platform is based on the 2003 Rolls-Royce Phantom and has styling heavily derived from the Rolls-Royce 100EX, a concept car unveiled to celebrate the company's centennial in 2004. Its interior includes leather and wood veneer.
There is a button to close the "coach doors" (suicide doors). The Phantom Coupe has the same 6.75-litre (412 cu in) V12 as found in the other Phantom models, developing 338 kW (453 bhp; 460 PS) of power and 720 N⋅m (530 lb⋅ft) of torque. It is the first Rolls-Royce coupe in 22 years. It featured pillarless body construction making it a true 2-door hardtop, much like the popular hardtops from the United States in the 1960s.
Under the skin
Power comes from 6.75 460 PS is the published figure. It weighs 2590 kg. Work it out per tonne and you get about 178 horsepower — quick by any era's standard, the kind of figure a hot hatch or a sports saloon posts. It shifts through a 6-speed automatic, 8-speed automatic. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 3320 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Its family tree is legible: its successor was the Rolls-Royce Wraith; assembly was at West Sussex, England (Goodwood plant), United Kingdom. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Lamborghini Aventador, the Ferrari 458, the Aston Martin One-77 — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the Rolls-Royce catalogue sit the Rolls-Royce 100EX and the Rolls-Royce 102EX.
Rolls-Royce Phantom