/////AMG
08-14-2005, 11:13 AM
German car-maker BMW is planning a "baby" Rolls-Royce that would go on sale at around quarter-of-a-million euros (311,000 dollars), the company's development chief Burkhard Goeschel said in an interview to appear in Sunday's Welt am Sonntag.
The model would be smaller than the Phantom limousine, the only model currently produced under the Rolls-Royce name, and would not appear on the market before 2010.
Goeschel said the project, required to boost sales levels, was at a very early stage.
With only 285 bought in the first six months of this year, sales of the Phantom are running behind the target of 1,000 for the whole of 2005. The Phantom was launched in 2003, five years after BMW took over the prestigious British manufacturer.
The model would be smaller than the Phantom limousine, the only model currently produced under the Rolls-Royce name, and would not appear on the market before 2010.
Goeschel said the project, required to boost sales levels, was at a very early stage.
With only 285 bought in the first six months of this year, sales of the Phantom are running behind the target of 1,000 for the whole of 2005. The Phantom was launched in 2003, five years after BMW took over the prestigious British manufacturer.