Chief Designer on "Less-Formal" New Rolls-Royce, the 200EX

Rolls-Royce will introduce a smaller, somewhat less-expensive car next year – smaller and less-expensive by Rolls-Royce standards, that is. Code-named 200EX, the concept car on which the production car will be based was put on display in New York this week for journalists, and for Rolls-Royce customers and prospects.

It will be priced around $250,000 to $280,000, versus the Rolls-Royce Phantom, which ranges from $380,000 to $434,000. Germany’s BMW owns Great Britain’s Rolls-Royce and re-launched the brand with an all-new lineup, starting in 2003.

BNET Auto Analyst Jim Henry interviewed Rolls-Royce Chief Designer Ian Cameron on March 25. The following are edited excerpts:

BNET: When does this car go on sale?

Ian Cameron: In the U.S., probably April 2010.

BNET: Since reviving the brand, the three models you offer so far are all variations on the Phantom. But this is entirely new, right? And built in an entirely different way?

IC: It’s a completely new car in a completely new segment. This car is unibody (all one piece) whereas the Phantom is a body attached to an aluminum frame. This takes Rolls-Royce to a new audience.

BNET: New, how? Since it’s less expensive, I assume that means younger, maybe slightly less affluent?

IC: It’s not so much to do with age and income. We say that the Phantom stands for formality. For a lot of people, the Phantom is too over the top. For others, that’s exactly what they want. For another sort of segment, they want one of each, for another sort of use. Many of our customers have a garage with five or six cars. They use it like a wardrobe, like you would change garments depending on the occasion.

BNET: What about the design makes it less formal?

IC: The lines of the car are more dramatic. There is the dramatic wheel size relative to the body height. You’ve got to be able to recognize it as a Rolls-Royce from every angle.

BNET: What about the grille?

IC: It took us 100 years to reach this point, but the grille now looks like an air intake, rather than a Greek temple. There is less rigidity. There are these optional dual tailpipes. This (200EX) is obviously a driver’s car.

BNET: You mean, as opposed to chauffeur-driven. Do you expect this car to be chauffeur-driven in some markets? Probably not in this country, but in other markets around the world, like China, which is big on chauffeurs?

IC: We find that even the Phantom is usually only chauffeur-driven for events and special occasions. The Far East, the Mid-East, that’s something else. But this car, certainly, will be driven by the owner.

BNET: Your competitors at Bentley have made similar comments to what you just said earlier, about the Phantom being too formal. But they also made the point that re-starting the brand, it made sense, especially for Rolls-Royce, to start with the top-end car.

IC: They’re wrong about that (being too formal), for our customers. But that’s right about the brand, you can’t set a stage for Rolls-Royce, coming up from below.