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Fancy An Electric Or Hybrid Rolls-Royce? It Might Just Happen

Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield

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Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield is a self-confessed petrol head. She grew up in a carless family but was able at a very early age to name cars passing her on... More

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Rolls Royce Phantom Experimental Electric 102EX live photos

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While Rolls-Royce may have hit the headlines earlier this year with its all-electric 102EX Phantom Concept, its large customer base hasn’t been quite as welcoming.

Despite a strong customer ambivalence to anything other than a throbbing 12-cylinder engine underneath the hood of its hand-built luxury cars, however, Rolls-Royce still hasn’t given up on the idea of offering a hybrid or electric version of its cars.

Talking to Christopher Rauwald of Dow Jones Newswires, Rolls-Royce’s Chief Executive, Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes said that the luxury brand needs to embrace greener drivetrains.

“I think we have to deal with the (alternative drivetrain) issue, even though its not driven by demand,” he said, adding that customer feedback on Rolls-Royce’s all-electric 102 EX had been “rather ambivalent” thus far.

Silent, reliable and powerful, an all-electric drivetrain could offer Rolls-Royce the ultimate drivetrain for those with enough cash to want opulence without emissions.

And with parent company BMW already pursuing its new i sub-brand of all-electric and plug-in hybrid models, Rolls-Royce already has all it needs to offer both hybrid and electric drivetrains to its customers.

Rolls-Royce Phantom Hybrid, photographed in New York City, July 2010

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For now however, you’ll have to wait for Rolls-Royce to decide on its lower-emissions future -- unless you’re the sort of person who thinks badge engineering is the way to improve the eco-image of your $400,000 ride.

[Rolls Royce via The Wall Street Journal]

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