Rolls Royce RR4: further details emerge

As promised last year when Rolls Royce revealed the first sketches of its planned new model - the RR4 - more details are beginning to trickle through about the exact make-up of this new luxury road-liner. There aren't many numbers in the latest release, the most notable being 500, namely 500bhp, this courtesy of a new 6.6 litre turbo charged V12 engine and a new 8-speed gearbox.

Smaller than Phantom, the RR4 is the production version of 200EX experimental car shown at Geneva earlier this month and is expected to be launched in 2010.

The new 500bhp (upwards of 373kW/507PS), 6.6 litre, turbo charged V12 engine will be unique to Rolls-Royce and the company says its 8-speed automatic ZF gearbox will significantly improve fuel and CO2 efficiency over the Phantom series launched in 2003 (which incidentally has been measured at a 14 mpg combined - though the target market for this car probably don't keep a close eye on fuel prices).

These scant details emerged at a press conference in New York where 200EX is currently being shown. The tour will continue through Singapore (3 and 4 April), Miami (19 and 20 May), Los Angeles (26-28 May), London (9-11 June) and Cannes (2-4 July).

“There has been a great deal of interest in this car since we first talked about producing a new model series in the autumn of 2006 and the reaction 200EX received at its unveiling at Geneva was very positive," said Rolls-Royce CEO, Tom Purves. “RR4 will deliver an authentic Rolls-Royce experience to owners, so expect peerless comfort and build quality. However, we have consciously engineered this car to be more involving and dynamic for those owners around the world that will wish to drive it themselves.”

Those in the chauffeur trade may may not be so pleased.

Via Rolls Royce.