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To: epicure who wrote (36876)	1/6/2000 4:18:00 PM
From: HairBall	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 99985

X: Futures dropped after market as well...

To: epicure who wrote (36876)	1/6/2000 4:22:00 PM
From: Les H	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 99985

This should lead to more insider selling... Rolls-Royce unveils $360,000 Corniche convertible By Deena Beasley LOS ANGELES, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Internet billionaires seeking a status symbol that lets the wind blow through their hair need wait no longer. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, citing pent-up demand from a late 1990s crop of nouveaux riches, on Thursday unveiled a new convertible Corniche with a sticker price of $359,990. ``The timing is very opportune. We are in the midst of a worldwide wave of prosperity,' company spokesman John Crawford said. Making its debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show, the four-seater is the first convertible sold by Rolls-Royce since 1995. ``At that time, we were at the end of a model year and Rolls-Royce did not have the capital to invest in an update,' Crawford said. All that changed after the elite British automaker was acquired in 1998 by Volkswagen AG (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: VOWG.F), which in addition to making the thrifty Beetle, also owns the Lamborghini, Bugatti and Audi luxury brands. But Volkswagen ultimately abandoned a fight to win the rights to use the Rolls-Royce name from a separate company, Rolls-Royce Plc, which instead sold them to rival bidder BMW AG , its aero-engines partner. Volkswagen will turn over the prestige Rolls-Royce brand, along with use of the famous Rolls-Royce front grille and Spirit of Ecstasy ``Flying Lady' hood ornament, to Munich-based BMW in 2003. After the transfer, the VW-owned company will become Bentley Motor Cars, producing cars under the Bentley nameplate. Bentley Motors, founded in 1919 by engineer and car-racing enthusiast Walter Owen Bentley, went bankrupt in 1931, when it was acquired by Rolls-Royce. In 1999, Rolls-Royce produced 1,500 cars and plans to raise the total to 2,000 this year. About half of the company's sales are in the United States, where it now has about a 2 percent of the luxury car market. The company said it would offer 200 of the new convertibles for sale this year, with half slated for the U.S. market. ``There is huge pent-up demand for a Rolls-Royce convertible,' Crawford said, citing the burgeoning ranks of ultra-rich Internet and high-technology entrepreneurs. Rolls Royce also unveiled in Los Angeles a new model of its Silver Seraph marque, priced at $219,900. Enhancements to that car include a satellite navigation system, revised map pockets and more leg room for passengers in the backseat. ``That's important in a Rolls Royce, which, as you probably know, is a car you get driven around in as opposed to driving it yourself,' Crawford said. In its quest for an overall impression of understated taste and considered design, the company said it takes over 150 hours to craft the woodwork alone in the interior of the Silver Seraph.