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Philip Lord18 Nov 2015
NEWS

Dawn arrives Down Under

Rolls-Royce's new drophead coupe makes local debut

The Rolls-Royce Dawn made its Asia-Pacific debut with the sheet pulled from the new model on the rear deck of a super yacht on Sydney Harbour today (November 18).

A pre-production example of the Dawn was flown in for its on-the-water preview just two months after the Dawn's global reveal at the Frankfurt motor show.

While Dawn production begins at the Goodwood factory in February, local deliveries kick off in around May next year with a starting price of $749,000, including on-road costs.

However, given that almost all Roll-Royces in Australia are commissioned, with at least a few options ticked, the actual price of most cars is likely to be higher — more than $100,000 higher, in some cases.

An off-the-rack Dawn takes three months to build, while those extensively personalised will take up to nine months.

According to Michael Schneider, Roll-Royce's general manager for the Asia Pacific region, Rolls-Royce personalisation can be extensive.

"We have customers who, for example, might want the timber veneer to be made out of a tree in their backyard," he suggested.

But he cautioned in such cases, the timber would have to be shipped off to the Rolls-Royce factory in Goodwood (UK) and "carefully scrutinised" before Rolls-Royce would commit to whittling it into shape.

While the Rolls-Royce of old did not divulge unseemly information such as engine output figures (instead proclaiming it to be "sufficient"), the Rolls-Royce of today is all over it.

The 420kW/780Nm 6.6-litre twin-turbo V12 Dawn will reach 100km/h from rest in 4.9sec, according to Rolls-Royce timekeepers, and continue on to a 250km/h top speed.

The Dawn may well be an elegant conveyance but it is a big drinker, with an average 14.2L/100km. CO2 emissions stand at 330g/km.

The Dawn is not gargantuan like the Phantom, but it's still a big car with its 5285mm length, 1947mm width and 1502mm height. While Rolls-Royce says that the Dawn's panels are 80 per cent new, it looks very similar to the Wraith coupe on which it is based and adds 200kg to the coupe's kerb weight, clocking 2560kg on the weigh bridge scales.

When you spend large on a car like this, you won't find any orange peel in the paint and there's no plastic trims to be seen anywhere inside. Leather, wood and wool covers every surface, and while a hand-made car is usually more prone to the vagaries of human error, at this price point there are no rough edges.

The folding roof has six layers of fabric and takes 21sec to retract, which can be done on the run — up to 50km/h. According to Roll-Royce, the Dawn's cabin is as quiet as the Wraith coupe when the roof is up.

Roll-Royce has kept to tradition with projected local sales numbers and order numbers. The company doesn't divulge such information; presumably they are (to quote history) sufficient.

Schneider would say was that Rolls Royce is satisfied with maintaining global sales at the existing 4000 per year, "to maintain exclusivity", and that Japan was by far the biggest market in the Asia-Pacific region.

Australia's sales volume (VFACTS reported 39 sales in 2014) sits in a middle cluster of countries including locations such as Malaysia.

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Written byPhilip Lord
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