Rolls-Royce Phantom EWB Is An Enormous Black British-German Limousine In China With Blue 京A license plates

Rolls-Royce Phantom EWB

A Rolls-Royce Phantom EWB, seen in the Dongzhimen area in Beijing in 2011. The enormous British-German limousine was painted in a dark shade of black with gold striping over the sides. It has darkened windows, a red interior, and standard factory alloy wheels.

Blue 京A license plates are not the same as black 京A license plates. The blue ones were issued to the very first batches of privately registered cars in Beijing, as opposed to cars registered to companies or the government. Most blue 京A plates were issued in the early 1990s. When one of those cars was subsequently crushed or otherwise taken off the streets the plates became available again.

In the 2000s, blue 京A license plates became status symbols among the newly wealthy, as they believed the early plates equaled early money. What happened next was that these wealthy folks would buy genuine cars with a blue 京A license plate, ship them off to the crusher, and put the plates on a newer and more expensive car. This is how the 京A·63907 ended up on this Rolls-Royce. Earlier on we met a similar Rolls-Royce Phantom with 京A·65856.

The Phantom Extended Wheelbase (EWB) is a very long car with signature rear-suicide doors. Size: 6084/1990/1634 with a 3820-millimeter wheelbase and a curb weight of 2670 kilos. The extension is best visible by looking at the side window of the passenger compartment. The window and the door are much longer than on the regular Phantom.

But even with that weight and size, it was still a quick car. The Rolls-Royce Phantom EWB had a top speed of 240 kilometers per hour and sprinted from 0 to 100 in just 6.1 seconds. Fuel consumption was impressive too, the big Roller drank 15.8 liters per 100 kilometers.

The engine that made this possible was a 6.7 liter V12 with 460 horsepower and 720 Nm of torque. The motor was mated to a six-speed automatic gearbox sending power to the rear wheels. The Phantom was, and is, a very expensive car in China. In 2011, the EWB model sold for 7,68 million RMB.

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