Rolls-Royce 200EX: Rapper's delight

We love MTV Cribs: partly because we're just nosy, and partly because it gives us an outlet for the simmering rage that would otherwise build up and cause us to get into fisticuffs with Dixons Saturday staff in the TV aisle. What gets our blood boiling the most is when the witless and inexplicably wealthy celebrity leads the camera on to their drive to show off what horrors have been inflicted on the elegant luxury saloon parked outside. Fortunately the Rolls-Royce 200EX could survive the tacked-on vulgarities, by being flash to start with.

The 200EX is designed with an edgier style than previous models, and is "noticeably less formal than previous models". Chief designer Ian Cameron describes the car as "a touring saloon with more than a little panache and perhaps more bravado than one might have expected from Rolls-Royce Motor Cars". It has a two-tone paint-job as darkest tungsten contrasts with the silver satin on the bonnet and A-pillar. Brilliant! Nouveau-riche rappers won't even have to fork out for a custom paint job to make it look silly! They will probably bling up the seven-spoke, 20-inch wheels with custom rims, however, because they're idiots.

Just kidding, Rolls, it looks smashing. We like the rear-hinged coach doors -- so giant basketball players can make a grand entrance -- while the traditional front grille has had a contemporary makeover and is framed by a pair of LED headlamps.

The 200EX won't go into production but does demonstrate the direction Rolls is going with the forthcoming RR4, a new model series due to hit the tarmac in 2010. Click through our gallery for more pictures of the gorgeous 200EX, and see the design process take shape.