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Geneva meets brute Wraith

GENEVA, Switzerland - Rolls-Royce is known for building elegant, sophisticated cars. Its new Wraith was unveiled at the 2013 Geneva auto show tpday.

The brute beast still manages to pull off the character of being the epitome of elegance yet it houses 465kW in its V12 engine and sends it out through an eight-speed ZF auto transmission. The 800Nm of torque is available from 1500rpm and hurtles the big car to 100km in 4.4 seconds. Powerful stuff...

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The Wraith is based on a coupe version of the Rolls-Royce Ghost but was also first built through 1938/39.

Torsten Muller-Otvos, CEO of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars,  said: “Today we launch the ultimate gentleman’s Gran Turismo, a car that embodies the spirit of Charles Stewart Rolls.

"As the most powerful Rolls-Royce in history, the Wraith promises the sense of adventure and speed that drove our founding forefather but of course the Wraith’s starting point is luxury, refinement and quality, traits that remain as important to Rolls-Royce customers today as they were more than a century ago."

The Wraith, Rolls says, has bold, sweeping lines, tension in its panels and a raked rear screen to create its "athletic looks" - along with its deeply buried grille, wide rear track and two-tone paint job., that is.

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Phantom-grade leather and expanses of wood grace the interior,  leaving a luxurious cocoon for four people. There's a "starlight headliner" which has 1340 fibre-optic lights hand-woven into it to set a glittering cabin ambiance.

While it might have beastly power, its maker says, this Roller "still feels like it's riding on a bed of air thanks to the wider rear track, shorter wheelbase and lower roof". The Wraith’s suspension has been tuned to minimise body roll and "amplify feedback when cornering".  No, they really wrote that... and apparently meant: "This makes for heavier steering weight at high speeds and lower weight at low speeds."

One of the big features is also the debut of satellite-aided transmission technology which uses GPS to select the most appropriate gear for the terrain ahead.

Other features include a head-up display, self-adjusting headlights, remote boot openinn and cellphone voice activation commands with a one-touch call button on the steering-wheel.

VOICE NAVIGATION

Using the navigation system is also untedious: route assistance can be used on-screen or through audio guidance. Now all you have to do is give a voice command such as “go to Piccadilly in London”.

Or you could use the Spirit of Ecstasy rotary controller which allows on-screen functions using a touch pad that has pinch and pull like a smartphone. Letters can also be ‘drawn’ on to the pad by hand rather than by scrolling through a series of available characters on-screen, much like the touch pad system found in Audi cars.

The Wraith will be available to South African customers and first deliveries will begin in Europe during the third quarter of 2013.

Check out the latest models in our Geneva show section.
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