Rolls-Royce is Not Interested in Hybrid Cars

Rolls-Royce has ruled out the possibility of making a hybrid model, saying it will only be interested in alternative powertrains when it can bring a fully electric vehicle to market.

Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Müller-Otvös said the automaker isn’t interested in hybrid tech as it sees it as a compromise. Rolls-Royce customers would gladly forgo fuel economy in favor of reliability and performance and as such, the automaker will only implement electrification when it can do a real EV.

“The Rolls-Royce brand is not, in a way, a game-changer when it comes to revolutionary technology,” Müller-Otvös told Autocar in a recent interview. “Our customers are doing so for reasons of utmost luxury, so there can be no imperfections.”

“Compromises when it comes to technology, or operating our products, are unacceptable. People are more interested in highly reliably substance than to be a test field for new technology.”

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Last year the luxury brand showed off its Vision 100 concept – a fully electric, fully autonomous two-door that was designed to signal the future of luxury mobility. The automaker didn’t divulge much info on the vehicle’s powertrain, only saying it was powered by “a futuristic, powerful, zero-emission drivetrain.”

The fully-autonomous tech previewed by the Vision 100 will likely one day join electric powertrains in Rolls-Royce road cars, but not anytime soon. The automaker isn’t rushing to get the autonomous technology to market for one very good reason: the majority of its owners have hired drivers.

“For our customers it’s not really a requirement because many have chauffeurs. So for that reason, it exists already. I haven’t had a single customer say to me: ‘Torsten, when is the autonomous Rolls-Royce coming?”

[Source: Autocar]
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