Rolls-Royce will go back to its roots with a range of smaller and—gasp!—less-expensive models as the luxury carmaker seeks to lay the financial foundations for a
prosperous future.

Described as possessing all the traditional Rolls-Royce hallmarks of engineering prestige and upper-crust luxury, the new cars are intended to rejuvenate the BMW-owned British carmaker with entries in the growing $150,000-to-$200,000 segment of the market.

“I believe Rolls-Royce has an opportunity to move into another price point,” says new Rolls-Royce boss Ian Robertson, who previously headed BMW in South Africa.

“Our family of cars will grow to include more attainable models. Over the past 100 years we have made so many different types of cars, so there is a lot of scope for us to move forward,” Robertson told AutoWeek.

The first of Rolls-Royce’s new models, a sedan, won’t appear before 2009, though Robertson is said to have already gained the backing of BMW chairman Helmut Panke. A number of styling proposals have been created, with final decisions on the product mix coming within the next year, Robertson says.

Spurring the move to extend the Rolls-Royce line below the hugely expensive Phantom is the success of the Bentley Continental GT. Bentley built some 5000 of the $171,000 Continental GTs in 2004—six times the number of Phantoms produced at Rolls-Royce’s Goodwood factory in the same year. Robertson says the segment for cars priced upward of $150,000 has grown from 8000 worldwide sales in the late-1990s to 20,000 cars today—and all signs indicate that trend will continue.

Robertson won’t confirm body styles for the baby Rollers, but said the company’s earlier models—such as the 20hp produced during the 1920s—hint at both sedan and coupe initially and possibly even a wagon and convertible later on.

They would all be position*ed well beneath the super-luxurious $332,000 Phantom, at a price that would likely see them compete directly against the Bentley Continental and Flying Spur. The starting price would be about $180,000 in
the United States.

The smaller Rollers will be “authentic to the brand” Robertson says, with traditional Rolls-Royce attributes like a prominent chrome grille and long sweeping hood. He also says the cars will be “less formal.”

He denied suggestions the next-generation BMW 7 Series, due in 2009, would serve as the basis for the baby Roller. But when it comes to powertrains, Rolls will surely dip into the BMW parts bin, as it did for the Phantom’s 6.7-liter 460-hp V12. One possibility is a reworked version of the German carmaker’s new 4.8-liter V8.

UTRECHT, Netherlands – A “baby” Rolls-Royce is likely to go on sale within four years.

The British ultraluxury carmaker hopes the car gives the brand a needed sales boost in mainland Europe.

Last year, just 148 units of the Rolls-Royce Phantom’s 796 global sales were in Europe, according to UK-based market researcher JATO Dynamics. Of those, 100 were bought by UK buyers and 48 were sold in Continental European countries such as Germany and France.

The four-door Phantom is the BMW-owned ultraluxury brand’s only model.

Axel Obermüller, Rolls-Royce director for Europe and the Middle East, said the brand needs a smaller car than the Phantom to attract more European buyers.

“If we introduce [a smaller Rolls-Royce], it will be in 2009 or 2010,” Obermüller told Automotive News Europe in an interview at a Rolls-Royce dealership here.

A Rolls-Royce distributor told ANE: “It definitely will come.”

Helmut Panke, chairman of Rolls-Royce parent BMW, told the German magazine auto motor und sport in March that there is room for a Rolls-Royce positioned between a top-of-the-line BMW 7 Series and a Phantom.

Obermüller said the Phantom’s slow sales in mainland Europe were due to the sedan’s imposing size.

“Our customers tell us they want something less formal to drive in European cities,” he said.

Rolls-Royce targets 1,000 annual sales for the brand to be profitable. To boost sales, Rolls-Royce is adding new Phantom variants.

A stretched version was introduced last month. A two-door, four-seat convertible, code-named RR02, will debut next year. A coupe variant also is planned. It will be based on the 101EX concept shown at this year’s Geneva auto show.

A “baby” Rolls-Royce would help the carmaker compete against its former sibling brand Bentley.

Last year Bentley, now owned by Volkswagen group, built 9,810 cars. Its sales were driven by the success of the Continental GT, a luxury sports car that is positioned below Bentley’s Phantom-sized Azure flagship sedan.