Word: ghosts
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...slight spin on the name of a popular folk song from the Great Depression, "How can a rich man stand such times and live?" He could buy a smaller car, for starters, such as the about-to-be-released Rolls-Royce Ghost, the first lower-cost limousine to be produced by the world's luxury automaker in more than a decade...
Rolls-Royces are typically leviathan in size and synonymous with ostentatious wealth. But the company's new Ghost model will be much more modest. A prototype of the four-door sedan that has been making the rounds at auto shows this summer is shorter and sleeker than the company's flagship Phantom limousine, making it "slightly more agile" and better for daily use, says Rolls-Royce CEO Tom Purves. It's more affordable as well, priced at just $245,000, far below the $380,000 baseline price tag for the Phantom. (See 10 things to buy during the recession...
...Ghost has been in the works for several years, well before the global economic meltdown. But the timing of the car's rollout this fall couldn't be better for the automaker. Although Rolls-Royce had a banner year in 2008, selling a record 1,212 Phantoms worldwide, the company has taken a substantial hit this year. Sales of the Phantom tanked by more than 34% in the first six months of 2009 as the superrich started to put the kibosh on their conspicuous consumption...
...have a car like the Ghost [coming out] right now is, of course, ideal," Purves says. Buyers may be attracted by not only the tens of thousands of dollars in savings, but also the ability to strike the right tone in a recession. "[The Ghost is] less ostentatious, so owners can give the impression that they're downsizing their Rolls-Royce," says Garel Rhys, president of Cardiff University's Centre for Automotive Industry Research. (See TIME's cars covers...
Because the Continental starts at $177,600, the decision by Rolls-Royce to price the Ghost at $245,000 was a "quite deliberate" maneuver to create a niche market just above Bentley's more affordable model, says Paul Newton, an automotive analyst for the consulting firm IHS Global Insight. (See the 50 worst cars of all time...