First look Rolls-Royce RR4 200EX

The only time the 200EX looks small is when it is lined up beside the flagship of the British luxury fleet, the Phantom.

The 200EX - officially only a concept car for the Geneva Motor Show next month but already confirmed as the RR4 for production - is a full 327mm longer than a BMW 7 Series, as well as 46mm wider and 81mm taller.

It is clearly a Rolls-Royce, yet much less imposing and formal than the Phantom.

Even the giant chromed grille, a RR signature for generations, has been moved aside and replaced by something which is just as recognisable but far less confrontational.

"This car is for a new group of Rolls-Royce customers. They will be considerably younger than Phantom buyers," says Ian Robertson, chairman of Rolls-Royce and now also head of marketing for the BMW Group in Germany.

He is speaking at an exclusive press preview of RR4, at Goodwood in Britain last September.

I am one of a small group of journalists to see the car before it is confirmed as the 200EX concept and the impact of the car is immediate and surprising. It looks smaller than I expect, and less like a Roller, at least at first.

But as I slide into the back seat, and luxuriate in more space and luxury than a long-wheelbase 7 Series, I can feel that this is something different. The smoother look is good, too.

If only the dreaded iDrive controller, picked up as part of the electronic package from Rolls-Royce's owners in Germany, was not so obvious in the centre console...

There is also a BMW-style shark-fin aerial on the roof as a reminder of the family tie, although Rolls-Royce's chief designer does not see it that way.

"I prefer to think of it as as Rolls-Royce beauty spot," says Ian Cameron.

The 200EX is being unveiled as Rolls-Royce gears up for production in 2010. The factory has already been split, as I see in September, to allow two cars to be built at the same time without disrupting production of a Phantom family which already has four members.

It is the latest in a series of near-production concept cars which have also previewed the Phantom coupe and convertible since Rolls-Royce became part of the BMW Group in 2003.

The big surprise is that it is confirmed with an all-new V12 engine.

The car still has the rear-hinged 'coach' doors used on the Phantom but the design is much more modern, including the grille.

"200EX is a touring saloon with more than a little panache and perhaps more bravado than one might expect," says Cameron.

"We wanted this to be less reminiscent of the traditional 'Parthenon' style and more like a jet intake."

The bottom line, says Rolls-Royce's chief executive Tom Purves, is simple.

"200EX is a modern execution of timeless Rolls-Royce elegance, breaking with some areas of tradition but retaining the core values that make our marque unique," he says.

But there is one thing Rolls-Royce is not talking about - a name.

The car is being shown as the 200EX at Geneva, and internally it is known as RR4, but it will be called something different for production.

It could be a traditional name, like Silver Cloud or Wraith, but no-one at Rolls-Royce is giving any hints and there is strong talk that - like the car - the name will be completely new.

News of the 200EX comes as Rolls-Royce makes some minor revisions to the Phantom for 2009.

There is a streamlined front bumper that is closer to the design of the Phantom Coupe and Drophead, finished in stainless steel.

The car also gets 21-inch alloy wheels, LED illumination for the door handles, new door cappings with grab handles and double reading lamps for the rear seats. There is other stuff but it is very minor.

Rolls-Royce says it sold 1212 Phantom series cars in 2008, the best for the brand in 18 years, and that it has recently spent $100 million on its factory at Goodwood in preparation for production of the RR4 in 2010.