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 By
Joe Yogerst
Special Advertising Sections Writer
Luxury vehicles, in some respects, are the dinosaurs of the automotive
industry, relics of the distant past. In other ways, top-of-the-market
sedans by such automakers as Bentley, Rolls-Royce and Maybach stand
at the cutting edge.
Through all of the financial ups and downs of the past century — and despite the on-again, off-again hike in gas prices — demand for über-luxe
vehicles remains incredibly strong. U.S. sales for super-luxury
cars dipped after the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center,
according to Bloomberg News Service. But during the last two
years demand for cars costing more than $200,000 has increased
again.
According to the Automotive News Data Center, Rolls-Royce doubled its U.S. sales last year (to 305 cars from 149 in 2003).
Maybach sales rose by around one-third (to 244 from 166 vehicles)
during the same period. That may be a drop in the bucket compared
to the 16.9 million cars and trucks sold in America last year.
But this highly specialized — and ultra-expensive — genre
is growing faster than any other segment of the auto industry.
“Buyers are definitely paying for the brand,” said Cars.Com columnist Joe Wiesenfelder. “But more important is the status of what is clearly a very expensive car. Exclusivity is no small part of it. If the luxury brands built as many copies of a model as they could sell, buyers would flock to a more exclusive model even if it cost less. We can talk all day about the feature and attributes, but the bottom line is that only one thing makes any car worth the asking price — a
buyer willing to pay it.”
Bentley epitomizes the genre’s enduring allure. Founded in 1919 by brothers W.O. and H.M. Bentley, the company continues to create some of the world’s
most expensive and luxurious automobiles.
The Queen of England tools around in a custom-made Bentley State Limousine commissioned
for her Golden Jubilee. Elton John earned $400,000 for his AIDS foundation by
auctioning a
Bentley Continental GT in 2003. And hotel magnate Steve Wynn ordered a fleet
of four Bentley Arnage RL limousines (at $270,000 a pop) for the opening of the
Wynn Las Vegas resort earlier this year.
Purchased in 1998 by Volkswagen after a long partnership with Rolls-Royce, Bentley’s
trump card is choice: three different models at present and two more on the drawing
board for next year.
With a sticker price of $233,000, the elegant Arnage T features a handcrafted
interior with 20 different leather upholstery options and maple, oak or walnut
veneer. High-tech features include a built-in voice-activated Nokia Bluetooth
mobile phone, a DVD-based satellite navigation system and fold-down tables in
the back seat.
Among the T’s many luxury options are lamb’s wool rugs, electronic
curtains for rear passenger windows, a mini fridge, a fax machine, a cocktail
cabinet, rearview park assist with a closed-circuit video camera and four identical
umbrellas housed in a custom-made rack in the trunk. As if that’s not enough,
the 450-horsepower V-8 engine makes this the most powerful “civilian” Bentley
of all time, capable of going from zero to 60 in 5.5 seconds.
Based on Bentley’s 1955 Park Ward S1 convertible, the Arnage Drophead Coupe
is scheduled to launch next year. Unveiled at the this year’s Los Angeles
Auto Show in January, this four-passenger ragtop is another blend of classic
Bentley style and high-tech features, including a fully automatic canvas roof
that retracts in 25 seconds and a pop-up rollover safety system.
“We have tried to make the roof look as fast as we can,” said Raul
Pires, Bentley’s chief of exterior styling. “The result is a design
that combines fluidity, sportiness and elegance.”
Bentley’s chief rival for 80 years, Rolls-Royce has experienced a renaissance
since being taken over by BMW in 1998 and relocating to a new high-tech factory
in Goodwood, England. Although it produces only one model at present (the $320,000
Phantom VI), the company sold almost 800 units worldwide in 2004 — its
best result in 14 years.
BMW makes the aluminum body panels, mechanical components and onboard technology
that goes into each Phantom. But all assembly and finishing is still carried
out by highly trained British workers. Despite the use of robots for some production
functions, Rolls-Royce continues to rely on manual labor for much of its production.
To achieve the mirror-like finish in the exterior of the Phantom, the entire
body is sanded by hand. It can take as long as 30 days for craftsmen to produce
all of the wood elements to go into a single passenger cabin. Rolls also has
its own tannery, where leather upholstery is dyed during a special pigmentation
process that dispenses color throughout the entire hide rather than the surface.
From theater-configuration seats to cigar humidors, Rolls-Royce is willing to
build in its vehicles just about anything that customers request. These so-called “bespoke” features
don’t appear on the regular options list. Sales and marketing director
Howard Mosher said the company has been surprised “by the level of interest
in bespoke specifications. We planned for 20% of Phantoms to have bespoke features,
but the actual figure is more like 60%.”
A recent entrant into the super-luxury category, the ultra-modern Maybach debuted
in 2002 as the world’s most expensive production sedan. Created by Mercedes-Benz
as a 21st-century alternative to Bentley and Rolls, Maybach has a base price
of $325,000.
The vehicle features many of the engineering marvels developed by its parent
company in recent years, including innovative air suspension, a bi-turbocharged
V-12 engine and a five-speed automatic transmission. But it’s over-the-top
amenities that make Maybach unique: Sirius satellite radio with a lifetime subscription,
sterling silver champagne flutes, a 21-speaker Bose sound system and rear seats
(with leg rests) that recline to an extremely comfy 47-degrees so passengers
can watch the flat-screen TV/DVD system affixed to the back of the front seats.
Wiesenfelder considers Maybach a good example of how über-luxe cars have
become more “far out and esoteric” in recent years in order to set
themselves apart from mainstream luxury models produced by Mercedes-Benz, BMW,
Lexus and Jaguar.
“The Maybach sedan has a solar panel in the roof that runs the ventilation
fan when the car is parked in the sun,” Wiesenfelder said. “Another
option is the panoramic roof — a large glass skylight that is electro-chromatic
like some rearview mirrors. At the flick of a switch, it instantly goes from
clear to a deep tint to shade against the sunlight. Even I was impressed by this
one.”
Joe Yogerst is a freelance writer based in San Diego.
Photos: Top Right, Rolls Royce; Left from top, Maybach, Bentley, Bentley. |
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