Luxury vehicles: elegance, functionality and performance
Luxury vehicles are both relics of the distant past and kings of the automotive industry. While luxury vehicles seem few and far between on the open road, top-of-the-market sedans by automakers such 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. But during the last two years demand for cars costing more than $200,000 has increased again.
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.
Bentley: a class of its own
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.
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.
Rolls-Royce and Mercedes Benz
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.
