Seized Rolls-Royce Phantom to be auctioned online by tax agency

@cleo,

Only someone with more money than they know what to do with would buy it, I'm sure.

Or someone that THOUGHT they had more money than they knew what to do with. As clearly they did not have enough money to pay their taxes!!

whats a tax defaulter?

Must be anybody, but a politician, who is not paying their taxes I suppose.....?!?

What an appropriate colour.

Right. Let's see. I am going to buy a car from the National Tax Agency. Which tells them that I have lots of money.

Is it just me or wouldn't it be better for the NTA to not really know who I am and that I might have lots of money?!

That is apart from the colour scheme of the car.....

Rolls Royce actually used to make very nice cars but after they were bought by BMW, every model has been a ridiculous caricature of what people think a Roll Royce should be .. huge, ostentatious, incredibly expensive etc.

I understand what you say, M3, but maybe that is why I kinda like the design. They are a burlesque. Where else could they have gone? Understated? I think BMW have done quite a good job with them.

hideous car and colors.

Maybe it will end up in China. It is not like it is an oversized maguro caught in Japanese waters and some prospective customers are staunchly against it leaving Japan.

We wouldn't be able to drive it home - unless they make the "narrow path" leading to the house quite a bit wider...

whats a tax defaulter? actually, never mind, i really dont care

the car is cool but the colors are a bit tacky.. I wouldn't ride

@Moonraker

My biggest complaint is the size. They should have continued in the same understated style as the Silver Seraph (which was the last RR model before BMW bought it). That was a really nice design and I don't think anyone would be embarrassed to drive it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Silver_Seraph

Rolls Royce cars have always been quite big, but this is because size used to be the way to add luxury back in the 70s and 80s when a cassette player was the height of hi-tech luxury extras. Today, luxury is more about technology than size. If I want size, I'll buy a Hi-Ace van. I think they've alienated alot of their potential customers with this collosus. My neighbour used to drive a Silver Spur back in the day, he was a sophisticated gentleman and he wouldn't be caught dead driving this freakshow on wheels.

BMW has basically turned Rolls Royce into an ultra niche brand that appeals only to a very narrow segment of the market. They've probably done this so that RR doesn't compete for sales with the BMW 7 Series.

So the tax office in Japan is going to give a commission to Yahoo Japan (private corp) for this operation ? What a mess, typical of the mix of public and private interest intertwined, how long before we read that somebody at yahoo to exec gave a nice donation to some to get the deal on Yahoo.

Let's hope the tax authorities check out other bidders to find more tax cheats.

10 or so million is hardly a fortune, people are paying more than that for high-end imports every day, would you expect the tax office to follow-up on all those people too?

Again, I know what you mean, M3. Yet sales were up drastically as far as 2014. I dunno about last year. I guess I am not really that interested in cars as products so much as design projects. To me the Silver Seraph looked like a Roller designed by Cadillac. And I guess that is not really a compliment.

@Moonraker

Yet sales were up drastically as far as 2014. I dunno about last year.

Fair point. Although it's worth mentioning that China is now their biggest market. The Chinese seem to love the ostentatious look and can't get enough of them.

@M3M3M3

The Phantom has always been RR's limousine model, for transporting the Queen and other big shots, often in parades. They need to be big. The older Phantoms looked even bigger, almost bus-like.

Yes, M3, and perhaps for Chinese buyers there is not much Rolls Royce design heritage to consider. So our discussion of burlesque and caricatures would be moot. Indeed. And looking at it with no sense of heritage to compare to, it is what it is; a tasteless monster that denotes wealth. But it even does that very well, as you say. I guess, in the end, it is about pleasing the customer. Perhaps Rollers always were pretty grotesque for me and BMW have just built well on that.

half a million dollars for a new one? gtf outta here. but i remember reading about nic cage buying a fleet of them during his heyday. that dude had money to burn and then some.

I wonder if Japan's tax code is like the IRS? You're guilty until proven innocent. Taxes will only increase because government debt is increasing at an historical pace.

probably something in the line of "you are not innocent until proven guilty"

10000000 yen is not cheap! The Japanese tax office is asking this for an accident car? It's also left hand drive-not such a bargain....

2009....? at a starting bid of $80,000...? Good investment..! Take it back to the US and flip it. I mean a loaded pickup these days are up around $60,000.

beautiful looking car with an absolutely horrid color.

@zones2surf has a point. Let's hope the tax authorities check out other bidders to find more tax cheats.

That is one ugly-looking car. Only someone with more money than they know what to do with would buy it, I'm sure.

What a monstrosity.

Rolls Royce actually used to make very nice cars but after they were bought by BMW, every model has been a ridiculous caricature of what people think a Roll Royce should be .. huge, ostentatious, incredibly expensive etc.