Spied: 2010 Rolls-Royce RR4

Disguised prototypes of the all-new 2010 Rolls-Royce, codenamed RR4, have been seen testing near Munich. The car will be an ddition to the Phantom line, and it's somewhat smaller. The RR4 will be launched initially as a sedan, though two-door variants, both fixed- roof and convertible will inevitably follow.

Rolls-Royce's Goodwood plant in southern England will assemble the cars, and it's getting a doubling of capacity to cope. That implies an output of 1000 RR4s per year, only one-eighth of Bentley's output of Continentals. Rolls CEO Ian Robertson confirms this positioning: "It will be significantly more expensive than the Bentley." Pricing is likely to be about $340,000 here in the U.S.

As it's being built in Britain, it can use all the skills there in hand-worked leather, wood, and paint. It'll offer high scope for personalization in trims and issues such as entertainment electronics. Under the skin, "the car will use some BMW DNA and some of ours," Robertson says. "It's Group technology."

Unlike the Phantom, it doesn't have an all-aluminum space-frame body, but has a variant of the next-gen BMW 7 Series steel-and- aluminum underbody, a flexible architecture that also will provide for the larger, lower 2012 BMW CS, a big sedancoupe seen as a concept at the 2007 Shanghai show. A specific Rolls body plant at Dingolfing, Germany will build the RR4 steel bodies as well as the Phantom shells, Robertson confirms.

The RR4 will be larger than the 7 Series and considerably taller and statelier. Photos show a car with an upright nose, more swept back than the Phantom sedan. It has the familiar thick Rolls C-pillar. The wheels are extra large; it's a Rolls-Royce cue that they're half the height of the vehicle.

Expect the car to use a V-8 with direct gas-injection and twin-turbo technology as shown in the BMW X6. Robertson refuses to confirm this, but says the RR4 will be efficient. "Remember, the Phantom is already the lowest-consumption car in its class and we want to repeat that." He points out that Rolls must be open-minded about powertrains in the long-term future. "Last year everyone was talking about hybrids. This year, it's plug-in hybrids and diesel, too. I won't rule anything out, but I won't rule anything in. I believe gasoline has a long way to go, yet."