A rare welcome for the 2016 Rolls-Royce Dawn

It’s rare for a car to be launched only digitally. It’s even more rare for a car seen ONLY on screen to draw so much interest and excitement. Then again, “rare” is one of the best words to describe Rolls-Royce, along with “exceptional” and “luxurious.”

For the first time in its history, Rolls-Royce launched its new model globally via online connection on September 8, 2015. This innovative launch simultaneously took place in London, New York, Dubai and Philippines. No less than Rolls-Royce Motor Cars CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös unveiled the new model and asked live media questions from around the world.

Perhaps an innovative, first-of-its-kind launch in Rolls-Royce history befits a model that is as rare as the new Rolls-Royce Dawn.

The 2016 Rolls Royce Dawn is a two-door, four-seater convertible. It was inspired by the 1952 Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn Drophead. In 1952, Rolls-Royce coachbuilders Park Ward finished the first Silver Dawn Drophead for its first customer, Colonel W.A. Phillips, in Canada.

The original Silver Dawn was the first Rolls-Royce to be offered with a factory-built body. However, all Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn Dropheads were coach-built for individual customers to ensure each their uniqueness and rarity. “Dawn” is a famous and rare Rolls-Royce name applied to only 28 very special Drophead bodies between 1950 and 1954.

Several decades after the 1950s, car owners of this generation can enjoy the privilege of owning this rare Rolls-Royce model.

The 2016 Dawn is an elegant mixture of old and new. It’s supposed to meet the demands of what a super-luxury four-seater convertible motor car should be in 2015—rare, refined and the most social super-luxury car there is.  Yet, like the 1952 Silver Dawn Drophead, the new Rolls-Royce Dawn stands apart by featuring 80 percent unique body panels.

As Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten walked us through the features of the 2016 Dawn, I began to wish that part of the program included an actual Dawn suddenly driving out of the screen.

According to Willy Tee Ten, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Manila president, the Rolls-Royce Dawn is set to arrive in the Philippines in 2016.

We cannot wait to physically see the Dawn in the Philippines. It’s hard not to be excited about a super-luxury convertible car whose name represents, as Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten explained, “fresh opportunities that every new day holds – an awakening, an opening up of one’s senses and a burst of sunshine.”

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Karen Jimeno is a junior partner at Jimeno Cope & David Law Firm and a law professor.  She hosts LegalHD on CNN Philippines Tuesdays at 9:30PM. She graduated from UP Law School and Harvard Law School, and is licensed to practice law in the Philippines and in New York.