rolls royce cars pics and rolls royce wallpapers ~ Performance Autosport

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars was acquired by the BMW Group in 1998. These days, Rolls-Royce models look more like ordinary cars again (albeit very smart ones), instead of five-star hotel lounges on wheels. The latest Phantom, launched in 2003, shows all the care in design and power in performance that have characterised the company’s cars over the previous century. Easy-access coach doors that open from the centre, a curved rear seat that facilitates a feeling of sociability between passengers, umbrellas that sit in compartments in the rear doors: everything has been thought of. A new one will cost you around £250,000.

Production is now carried on at a specially designed, environmentally friendly facility at Goodwood in West Sussex. This is not far from the famour Motor Museum at Beaulieu, and only 20 miles from Henry Royce’s final home, a house called Elmstead in the village of West Wittering. The nearby Goodwood racing circuit is used for testing new cars, and overseas orders can be shipped from the port of Southampton. It feels like a fitting home for what remains the world’s most prestigious car maker.