Exactly 112 years ago, on this very day, 15 March, Rolls-Royce was born! The automobile manufacturer burst into the market in 1906, a combined vision of Henry Royce, the man who designed and made the cars, and Charles Rolls, the man who handled all the business of the company.
Henry Royce and Charles Rolls met in 1904, working together and putting their first ever car on display at the Paris Salon, the official art exhibition of the French Academy of Fine Arts.
The popularity of the Rolls-Royce brand grew quickly, leading to the launch of the first official car – the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost – a six-cylinder 40/50 horsepower vehicle, whose quality firmly established Rolls-Royce as a top name in automobile manufacture.
The Vision Next 100
More than a 100 years down the line, Rolls-Royce gave the world a look at the Rolls-Royce Vision Next 100, the concept car seen in the above video.
Well, “car” sounds like a bit of an understatement, because from the looks of it, this seems more like a mobile luxury home. I guess there’s a reason Rolls-Royce describes it as, “a vision of the future of luxury mobility.”
The Vision Next, also known as Project 103EX, is a concept car, and a look at the future of luxury automobiles. A fully autonomous vehicle, with zero emission, the car has no steering wheel.
There is a screen in front of passengers, but that’s mostly used to watch TV, or display information. In the company’s own words:
The key, says Rolls-Royce, is in epitomising four key tenets of the future of luxury mobility: ‘The Personal Vision’, ‘The Effortless Journey’, ‘The Grand Sanctuary’ and ‘The Grand Arrival’.
The Rolls-Royce Vision Next 100 is a project that Rolls-Royce aims to manufacture in the next 100 years, and is likely to be another feather in the automobile giant’s cap.
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