BMW has started testing its new baby Rolls-Royce – and our spies were on hand to capture the moment this mule took to the roads around Munich. Size is relative, of course; this might be the smallest Rolls for generations, but it will still dwarf the majority of cars on the road.
Nestling under the disguise of this long-wheelbase 7-series lie the innards of the baby Roller, codenamed New Generation Saloon. The smaller Rolls will slot beneath the Phantom uber-saloon in the range and officials talk of it as ‘a Silver Shadow for the 21st century’. Strip away the BM bodywork, and the baby Rolls will look like the car depicted in our artist’s impression above.
Classic four-door proportions
Analysis of our exclusive scoop shots reveals a platform whose track is noticeably wider than a 7-series’, and the raised ride height is another indicator of what lies beneath this BM body. Check out the size of the brake discs too – required to halt a couple of tonnes of luxury car. The unknown at this stage is the material used to build the NGS; the Phantom’s aluminium spaceframe could be deemed too expensive for the smaller, more affordable car.
Many of the next-gen 7-series’ underpinnings will be used on the secret new Rolls-Royce, and a BMW-derived V12 is likely to provide the propulsion. In the longer run, we’d expect the British luxury brand to dip into parent firm BMW’s hybrid technology; not that Rolls-Royce owners worry unduly about their fuel bills - but they do worry about what people say about them. Even the world’s most exclusive uber-brands will need to face up to their environmental responsibilities in the 21st century.
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