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Rolls-Royce Reveals New Corniche Convertible    

7 January 2000

Rolls-Royce Reveals New Corniche Convertible    

    LOS ANGELES, LOS ANGELES AUTO SHOW, Jan. 6 -- Rolls-Royce
Motor Cars Limited revealed its new $359,990 Corniche convertible at the 2000
Greater Los Angeles Auto Show, dominating a line of new model intros as the
most expensive production Rolls-Royce model ever launched.
    (Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000106/LATH033 )
    Company officials say just 100 of the exclusive motor cars will be
available for sale in North America this year, making it one of the Show's
rarest models.
    While the new convertible takes its main design cues from the company's
popular Silver Seraph saloon, its styling echoes themes from Rolls-Royce's
illustrious past.  It is as if Rolls-Royce designers selected a favorite
quotation from their rich library of coachbuilding studies and subtly
reinterpreted it to please and excite a new generation of Corniche owners.
    The Chief Executive of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited, Tony Gott,
acknowledges that for collectors and aficionados of the hand-built motor cars
from Crewe, England, the Corniche convertible may well prove to be quite
literally its ultimate expression.
    The Corniche represents a considerable investment by Rolls-Royce Motor
Cars and its parent, Volkswagen Group, and comes just a few years before the
brand passes to BMW.
    The Rolls-Royce Corniche is powered by a light-pressure turbocharged V8
engine producing 325 horsepower, with a four-speed adaptive automatic
transmission.  The luxurious four-seat interior is crafted from Connolly
leather, deep pile Wilton carpets and hand finished wood veneers featuring
subtle cross-banding and boxwood inlays.
    There were 237 Rolls-Royce motor cars sold in North America last year, an
increase of 3.5 percent over 1998.
    Rolls-Royce and Bentley Motor Cars is located in Crewe, England, and for
almost a century has been dedicated to hand-crafting uniquely refined motor
cars, commissioned to reflect the wholly personal needs and tastes of
individual owners.  To experience Rolls-Royce at first hand more than a
thousand owners visit the factory each year to commission their own motor car.

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