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Rolls-Royce is working on a hybrid version of its upcoming luxury saloon, the Ghost.

The Rolls-Royce Ghost hybrid will share the BMW ActiveHybrid 7's green technology. The F01 7-series and the Ghost share the same standard rear-wheel drive platform, so the engineering on the Ghost hybrid has been fairly straightforward.

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 I think it looks great, alot of presence and sportily imposing, but I cant help but think the hybrid should be the only option available at this level.

 

fuzzybear:

I cant help but think the hybrid should be the only option available at this level.

 Agreed!  It's not as if there is any issues with either packaging or costs, the key problems with lower price hybrids.

I was going to say exactly the same thing. I can't see why there should be a non hybrid.

fuzzybear:

I think it looks great, alot of presence and sportily imposing, but I cant help but think the hybrid should be the only option available at this level.

perhaps because in some markets outright ostentation is the whole point. I would think buyers in the Gulf States, China, India and Russia would be happy to flaunt their conspicuous consumption, rather than have a nancy 'hybrid' sticker on the boot. A prince in an oil producing state would look like a right wally advertising the fact tbat he drives/is driven in a motor that restrains the lavish income for his fiefdom, no? Whereas the American and European buyers would wish to show their green cred. without sacrificing outright power. BMW are simply covering all bases of their obscenely wealthy customer base.

Surely the point of hybrid power is to reduce emissions and consumption by adding it to a smaller engine? Not to graft it on top of a socking great 560bhp V12. This is the equivalent of eating a slimming Ryvita after scoffing a 20-course Mr Creosote-style banquet. The hybrid badge will become a joke if luxury car makers are just going to use it as a badge of credibility. You don't put a sticking plaster on a gaping wound. You make the wound smaller first.

No need for a badge... Just hybrid them all. The hybrid system on the BMW 760 (?) gives more power and at the same time uses less petrol. Best of all worlds. Isn't that what a Rolls is supposed to be?

richardhead:

perhaps because in some markets outright ostentation is the whole point. I would think buyers in the Gulf States, China, India and Russia would be happy to flaunt their conspicuous consumption, rather than have a nancy 'hybrid' sticker on the boot.

Surely a wealthy arisocrat will want the fastest model available, which is the hybrid!!  I doubt Rolls will sell many non hybrid models at all, even in the gulf states.  These new money countries are also aware of the climate "problems", so theyaren't averse to having a greener model on there driveway, in fact, you could say that they are keener to embrace the latest fashionable technology, which hybrid and stop start can be mentioned under.

A rather pathetic hybrid. The 0.6kwh battery, with a full charge, can only provide the 20kw motor with full power for about 90 seconds max. There are pushbikes with more electrical assistance than this!

A hybrid doesn't actually need a battery at all (although I suspect a Rolls Royce would simply because a starting handle may not be well received by their usual customers).

So, do you think most of these cars will be used in the city just to avoid the congestion charge?, of course not, these kind of cars are what were known as "continent crossers" which means at speed with maximum comfort and usually driven by a "man" servant , hybrid in a car like this is just a sop towards the greens to say "see were going green!" but their not really, i recently read an article which said the Lexus 450h was a hybrid, but what it actually does is go on electric power is about  1.2 miles ,and the only other benifit was extra accelaration nothing more,no, if hydrogen was more readily available then every future car built should run on it!

I think that people with this kind of money prefer to take a plane, if only to save valuable time. These cars are mostly driven in the city.