Credit crunch, what credit crunch? Maybe for us, but not for the rich and richer. While most automakers are in the process of tightening their collective belt, Rolls Royce is seeing its sales soar this year and it’s getting ready to hire more workers to keep up with demand. Last month the British brand delivered 129 cars which represents growth of 7,5 percent compared to the same month in 2007. From January through September of this year, BMW Group-owned Rolls-Royce has delivered a total 827 vehicles to customers, achieving a gain of 42.8% over the previous year (579 units). Continued

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Love it or loathe it, this is Pininfarina’s latest creation that is based on the Rolls-Royce Drophead Coupe. Although we’d like to see the Hyperion in real life before we make any conclusions, we must say that these official renderings make us wonder if Pininfarina has lost its touch. In any case, the Hyperion which was created as a one-off for an unnamed wealthy car collector, will make its official debut the Concours d’Elegance classic car show at Pebble Beach in California on August 17th. Pininfarina hasn’t released any details yet, but expect the Hyperion to use the same 6.75-litre V12 engine as the Rolls-Royce Drophead Coupe.

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This is the first picture of Pininfarina’s Hyperion that will make its official debut at the Pebble Beach Concours classic car show in Monterey, California on August 13. The Hyperion is a one-off coach-built model that was commissioned by an unnamed and apparently, very rich enthusiast. Based on the Rolls Royce Drophead Coupe, the Hyperion is supposed to pay homage to the great pre war cars with its style, size and overall presence.

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Pininfarina is working on a new privately-commissioned one-off based on the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe. Ordered by an as-yet unnamed collector, the vehicle will bear the name Hyperion from ancient Greek mythology and is stylistically inspired by the pre-war Rolls-Royce automobiles.

Coachbuilding for individual clients is becoming an important part of Pininfarina’s business, as automakers worldwide are outsourcing to independent carrozzerias less than they used to. Following in the footsteps of Peter Kalikow’s lightly modified Ferrari 612 K and Jim Glickenhaus‘ more radical Enzo-based Ferrari P4/5, the Hyperion is anticipated to debut at Pebble Beach in August.

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We’ve seen plenty of photoshopped renderings of Rolls-Royce’s next effort, the RR4, but this morning, the BMW-owned British luxury icon released the first official sketches of the new car. The RR4 won’t be coming to market for another two years, but its design is complete and vehicle development and testing is well underway. The marque’s Goodwood factory is undergoing renovations that will allow its production lines to accommodate the full Phantom range as well as the new RR4.

Based on the sketches, it looks like the RR4 will be retaining the same long-hood, high-beltline proportions as the Phantom series cars. Although rumors have had the RR4 being built on a derivative of the new 7-series platform, Rolls isn’t saying anything about that right now. The car will apparently have a unique new engine not shared with any other models. You can read Rolls-Royce’s official press release is after the jump.

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The Sultan of Brunei has an amazingly odd car collection. he seems to have a maddening obsession with odd cars. However, what sets him apart is his seemingly unending pot of money with which to manifest his wildest automotive fantasies. Although word on the streets of Bandar Seri Begawan is his fiscal fortunes have depleted as of late, before he sold off some of his assets, he and his family created what may be the most impressive car collection the world has ever seen. In the gallery on the next page you can view a small part of his collection.

see gallery on next page

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Scientists from Ruhr University Bochum (RUB) in Germany have revealed a major flaw in vehicle keyless entry systems by demonstrating a new device that can ‘learn and record’ radio codes used to lock and unlock car doors. In the same way that a universal remote control can mimic commands from your TV and DVD controller, the new device could enable thieves to access buildings and cars after remote eavesdropping from a distance of up to 100 meters.

The security system scientists cracked is based on KeeLoq RFID technology used in millions of cars around the world. Leading the research is RUB professor Christof Paar, who said “eavesdropping on as little as two messages enables illegitimate parties to duplicate your key and to open your garage or unlock your car.”

What’s worse is that with another malicious attack, a garage door or a car door can be remotely manipulated so that legitimate keys do not work anymore – in effect locking owners out of their own cars.

The KeeLoq system uses a unique radio frequency to send messages from a transponder mounted in a key fob to a receiver, usually embedded in a car door. Both the receiver and transponder use KeeLoq as the encryption method for securing the over-the-air communication. Scientists were able to remotely detect the electric power consumption of the receiver and by applying ‘side-channel analysis’ methods to the power traces were able to extract its unique manufacturer key code.

The official statement from KeeLoq’s developers is that “these theoretical attacks are not unique to the Keeloq system and could be applied to virtually any security system

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