Last month Rolls-Royce CEO, Tom Purves announced that the engine for the production version of the 200EX concept would not be from the BMW parts bin and would be a brand new V12 unit. Now Purves has revealed specific details on the engine at press conference in New York.
The new baby Roller, which will hopefully revive the Silver Ghost name, will get a 6.6-liter turbo charged V12 engine making at least 500 hp. While a displacement of .55 liters per cylinder doesn't seem like much, it's huge in the V12 community, which rarely gets above half a liter per cylinder. The 632 hp Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 has a displacement of 6.5-liters, and the 651 hp Ferrari Enzo has a displacement of 6.0-liters; so we have no trouble believing the 6.6-liter turbocharged V12 in the 200EX will make Rolls-Royce's claim of “upwards” of 500 hp.
The powerplant will be mated to an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission. Not to many people's surprise, Rolls-Royce is claiming that fuel economy will be much better than the larger Phantom. There will be plenty more info revealed on the baby Roller between now and when the production version is expected at September's Frankfurt Auto Show.
Press release after the jump
Press release
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has confirmed further details about the production version of 200EX, the experimental car shown at the Geneva motor show early in March 2009.
Rolls-Royce CEO, Tom Purves announced the details at a press conference in New York where 200EX is currently being shown to potential customers on the first leg of a world tour.
Speaking at the event, Mr. Purves said, “There has been a great deal of interest in this car since we first talked about producing a new model series in the autumn of 2006 and the reaction 200EX received at its unveiling at Geneva was very positive. As we move another step closer to the start of production at Goodwood, it is exciting to be able to share some of the specific technical details with customers and the media.”
He continued, “RR4 will deliver an authentic Rolls-Royce experience to owners, so expect peerless comfort and build quality. However, we have consciously engineered this car to be more involving and dynamic for those owners around the world that will wish to drive it themselves.”
RR4 will be powered by a brand new 6.6 litre turbo charged V12 engine unique to Rolls-Royce. The engine will be combined with an 8-speed automatic ZF gearbox. This new drive-train will significantly improve fuel and CO2 efficiency over the already class leading Phantom series of cars. Engine power will be upwards of 500bhp.
Further details about RR4 will be released over the coming months.