Why's This Multi-Crore Rolls Royce Getting Scrapped? No, It's Not Because Of The Old Car Ban
Getting to see a Rolls Royce Phantom on Indian roads itself is rare. Watching one being dismantled piece by piece is even rarer. Videos showing a Phantom VII meeting the end of its life have now surfaced online. Shared on the Instagram handle Spareparts.in, these show how the multi-crore vehicle gets ruthlessly transformed into used parts. Before you ask, it wasn’t the old car ban that led to this luxury sedan getting scrapped. It was, instead, a mechanical issue. Fixing it would have been very expensive. So the owner chose to get the vehicle scrapped.
In one of the videos, we see the Rolls Royce Phantom sitting on a forklift. Scrapyard workers are seen breaking its rear windshield with a hammer and working on the underbody- likely unbolting or removing components. The video also shows the key fob.
In another clip, we see this Rolls Royce being driven around. In this video, we can see the interior design and material quality of this particular model. It seems to have a lot of wood finish and wooden trims inside.
In a third clip, we see workers dismantling the hood, grille and other parts of the luxury sedan. First, the large grille is removed. Then the bumper and other parts are removed. The bonnet is seen open and at some point, a worker is seen sitting on the engine bay. He sits on the engine block and unbolts the bonnet cover. There is also a clip of a man breaking the rear windshield with a hammer.
The handle has shared another video in which the car can be seen being driven around inside the scrapyard. The sheer size of it can be seen in this. In another clip, we see one of the workers rotating one of the Phantom’s wheels with his hand. The hub cap with Rolls Royce logo is seen stationary. The logo doesn’t rotate with the wheel- a signature feature of Rolls Royce models.
As mentioned earlier, this Phantom VII suffered a major mechanical issue. Repairing it completely made little to no financial sense, eventually making the owner auction it off to a used parts dealer. The sedan was scrapped and sold as parts. Videos of this are now gaining massive viewership online.
This is not uncommon with ultra-luxury cars. Repair costs can be extremely high, and sourcing parts is often equally expensive. In some cases, scrapping and selling parts becomes the more viable option.
Rolls Royce launched the Phantom VII in 2003, five years after BMW acquired it. It continued to be in production till 2016. In 2017, the Phantom VIII took over as the successor.
Under its hood, the Phantom VII had the massive 6.75-litre naturally aspirated V12 petrol engine making 460 hp and 720 Nm of torque. This luxury sedan was able to do the 0-100kph sprint in over 6 seconds. It had a top speed of 240 kph.
The car also made extensive use of Aluminium in its panels. This helped in keeping the weight under check. The interior also made generous use of wood trims and top-quality leather- all crafted at Rolls-Royce’s Goodwood facility.