BMW first presented a two-door Rolls-Royce Cabriolet at the 2004 Geneva Motor Show as a concept car meant to celebrate 100 years of Rolls-Royce cars. Labeled 100EX, the experimental touring sedan concept was designed in California at the BMW Group's Designworks studio. Since then, BMW has confirmed the car will be built alongside the Phantom at the Goodwood Factory in the UK.
Our trusty spy photographer snapped photos of this pre-production model as it was cruising in the Bavarian Hinterlands, before going off to test its seat warmers during extreme cold-weather testing in Scandinavia. The prototype seen here has a rather different rearend than the 100EX displayed in Geneva, but the signature sloping front grill has been maintained.
A showpiece for 21st-century coach building, the Cabriolet will feature an aluminum spaceframe chassis harnessed to the same 6.7-litre/453-hp V-12 engine that propels its Phantom sibling from 0 to 60 mph in just 5.9 seconds and to a limited top speed of 149 mph. Rolls-Royce doesn't hold back in quality, and we're expecting it will be built with painstaking attention to detail, featuring aluminum trim, teak and mahogany wood, woolen fabric, and fine leather.
We're hoping to see it make its first public airing at the 2007 Detroit Motor show in January 2006, and then hit the market some months later. As would be expected from Rolls-Royce, it will be an awesome car which will certainly be coupled to a stellar price somewhere near the $328,750 suggested retail of the standard Phantom.