Skip advert
Advertisement

‘The Phantom has been a success, so why change a winning formula?’

Carmakers won’t abandon popular designs even if new models are anti-climactic, argues Graham Hope

One of the great privileges about this job is the opportunity to see new cars – or pictures of new cars – before they are presented to the wider world. The anticipation is always tangible as we open the images on our laptops and cast our eyes over the first official shots of an all-new model.

Advertisement - Article continues below

We had one of those moments this week, as the team huddled around a computer to check out the new Rolls-Royce Phantom. And the reaction as that first image opened up before our eyes? “Oh.”

Best luxury cars 2017

Because, let’s be honest here, it looks rather a lot like the last one, doesn’t it? It’s not the first time this has happened recently; the BMW 5 Series and Audi Q5 didn’t exactly reinvent the wheel, either.

Explaining Rolls-Royce’s position, designer Alex Innes admitted: “It’s similar to the old car in terms of lineage. We wanted the new car to be unmistakably ‘Phantom’ but modernise it.”

And you know what? I get that. The Phantom has been a big success for Rolls, so why mess with a winning formula? In many ways, creating a car that needs so little done to it in terms of a design update is mission accomplished for car companies. Customers will buy it regardless of how it looks (and what this impoverished commentator thinks).

So the rationale is understandable, and I acknowledge the Phantom is everything you expect a Rolls to be. But as car fans above all else, there’s always that little sense of anti-climax here in the Auto Express office when companies prove so restrained in updating their new models.  

On a slightly separate theme, and again speaking as a petrolhead, I was rather bemused at some of the hysterical headlines in the mainstream press that accompanied last week’s announcement of a petrol and diesel ‘ban’ in the United Kingdom by 2040. We bring you the real story here.

Do you disagree with Graham? Let us know in the comments section below.

Skip advert
Advertisement
Skip advert
Advertisement

Recommended

Top 10 best luxury cars to buy 2024
Best luxury cars - header image
Best cars & vans

Top 10 best luxury cars to buy 2024

Indulge yourself with our list of the most luxurious cars on sale today
2 Feb 2024

Most Popular

Road tax set to rise in April: here’s how much more you’ll pay
Road tax documentation
News

Road tax set to rise in April: here’s how much more you’ll pay

Drivers with newer cars will now pay £10 more per year, although the biggest gas guzzlers fare even worse
28 Mar 2024
Posh new trim level for Dacia Sandero while the Sandero Stepway gets more power
Dacia Sandero - front
News

Posh new trim level for Dacia Sandero while the Sandero Stepway gets more power

Both the Sandero and Sandero Stepway ranges have been tweaked, gaining more safety features to meet the latest regulations
26 Mar 2024
Huge Audi new car blitz to bring us 9 models in 2 years
Upcoming Audi models - four-way image
News

Huge Audi new car blitz to bring us 9 models in 2 years

After a quiet few years, the German giant is gearing up for its biggest product onslaught to date
25 Mar 2024