Rolls-royce is, in some respects, like any other carmaker. A recently revamped showroom in Sunningdale, close to London and closer still to a renowned golf club where its vehicles would look right at home, does not seem out of the ordinary. Some might think that a bright-yellow Cullinan on display is a tad brash (a spokesperson insists it is “expressive”). But it is an suv and that makes it the company’s bestselling model, as suvs tend to be. And, like other car companies, Rolls is embracing battery power, promising to go all-electric by 2030. Deliveries of the Spectre, its first electric vehicle (ev), began last autumn and are expected to make up 20% of sales this year. As part of bmw, it can tap its German parent for ev tech such as battery cells and motors.

Here, though, similarities with the rest of the industry end. For one thing, Rollers are ideally suited to electrification. Batteries do away with the need to muffle engine noise—its adverts once promised that the only disturbance in the cabin is the ticking clock. While other firms fret about the affordability of evs, the Spectre’s £330,000 ($420,000) list price will not make buyers’ eye water. That is more than a petrol-powered Cullinan or Ghost, a smaller saloon, but a bargain compared with the Phantom limo, which will set you back £420,000. And it is merely the starting price onto which you affix pricey add-ons. The average Rolls in fact sells for around £430,000. The firm sees itself as a luxury-goods firm rather than a carmaker. No kidding. (The Economist)