Rolls-Royce is building on the success of its Wraith Coupé with a convertible version, and spy shots of the drop-top luxury cruiser have finally popped up, giving a glimpse of what to expect next year.
Dubbed the Dawn, the soft-topped Rolls-Royce gets its name from the classic coaches from the late ’40s and early ’50s. Previously, the car had been spotted testing preforming winter tests in the arctic circle, but the test mule was sporting a hard top — not the folding soft top that it will be produced with.
According to Autocar, Rolls-Royce head Torsten Müller-Ötvös is quoted in saying “Dawn is a beautiful new open-top motor car with a name that suggests the fresh opportunities that every new day holds — an awakening, an opening up of one’s senses and a burst of sunshine. It will be the most social of super-luxury motor cars for those beautiful people who wish to bathe in the sunlight of the world’s social hotspots.”
The short version? “Hey, fresh air is pretty nice.”
Market-speak aside, a convertible version of the Wraith does sound like a great addition to the lineup, joining the yacht-like Phantom Drophead Coupé. The Wraith-based “baby Rolls” convertible will retain the two-door layout of the hardtop and, presumably still be powered by a twin-turbo 6.6-liter V12. This puts down 624 horsepower, which is plenty of grunt to send the Dawn racing towards the horizon.
We expect many of the hallmarks of the Wraith to find their way into the Dawn, including the plush carpeting and fine attention to detail. Like other coupes made by the classic luxury automaker, the Wraith was similarly smooth and quiet, even at high speeds. We expect the Dawn will be similar, with a bit of the noise cancellation sacrificed for the soft top.
Then again, we’re talking about Rolls-Royce, who aren’t really known for comprising. The luxury convertible is expected to hit the road next year and be priced in the ballpark of £250,000 (roughly $385,000).
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.