The Rolls Royce Hyperion, that we introduced to you two montgs ago, made its world debut last week at the Concours d’Elegance at Pebble Beach.

The car was designed and built by Pininfarina, commissioned by car collector Roland Hall who wanted a unique Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé.

The private client who already owned a Rolls-Royce Drophead Coupe, asked them to create a custom-built car that would evoke the appeal of the sumptuous cars of the 1930s.

Liliane Bettencourt, daughter of Eugene Schueller, the man who founded cosmetics giant L’Oréal, tops Forbes’ just-released list of the richest women in Europe with a fortune of $22.9 billion.

That also makes her the world’s richest woman and the 17th richest person on earth, according to Forbes. She is also the second richest person in France, after Bernard Arnault who has an estimated wealth of $26.0 billion.

Following Bettencourt on Europe’s female rich list is a Swedish citizen Birgit Rausing, a packaging heiress with an estimated fortune of $14 billion, while No. 3 is BMW and pharmaceuticals heiress Susanne Klatten, with $13.2 billion.

This futuristic Ferrari Monza was designed by Iman Maghsoudi and it looks more like a spaceship than a car.

The future cars will be capable of travelling speeds of 300 km/hour, too fast for a human to operate manually as they lack “sufficient concentration” and dexterity. As a result, computers will have to be programmed to drive them.

With the Monza, at slower speeds, the “pilot” sits in a cockpit similar to straddling a motorcycle and has full control. Once the vehicle reaches a predetermined speed, the vehicle changes its shape to become more aerodynamic, and control is taken over by a computer.

It is designed to speed with tail fins that make sure that your Ferrari doesn’t take to the skies at high speeds and it also has a friction reducing technology.
The original Ferrari Monza was one of a series of cars built by the Italian manufacturers in the early 1950s.

“When the famous toy brand, Margarete Steiff, allows itself to produce the first ever “couture” teddy bear, it’s with the master of today’s luxury Karl Lagerfeld.

A unique and unusual collaboration that shows us, one more time, how Lagerfeld is always on the avant garde. Steiff keeps on the innovation and brings you the first teddy bear made for older kids.” Via Colette.

The teddy bear comes wearing the famous black suit and sunglasses, an outfit by the designer that one got used to over the years. And of course the famous button in the ear, that all Steiff plush toys carry, is also present. You can expect this to be a collectors item.

Luxuo is pleased to introduce Luxury Interactive 2009, a corporate event taking place on 16 – 18 March 2009 at Le Meridien Hotel - Piccadilly in London. On this occasion, we are glad to offer a 25% discount code to all the Luxury Retailers.

The event will bring together leading luxury brands to advance the use of interactive media and the online channels to create exceptional interactive customer experiences and drive luxury e-business through interactive learning.

Luxury Interactive helps luxury brands to attract new customers and increase profit margins by learning e-commerce strategies that have already been implemented and have succeeded.

An American has purchased a rare intense red 3.69 carat ruby on eBay India for Rs. 8,20,000 ($19,600) making it one of the most expensive jewelry items sold on the country-specific Web auction site.

Arvind Juneja, a Jaipur resident has a family business of Jewellery and registered on eBay in October 2007. He has sold more than 90 pieces of jewelry and gems since October, 2007 on the Web site. His eBay id is “Jewelsafari.”

“I am an avid collector of precious gemstones,” he said. “I wanted to trade my collection with the buyers who really understand the worth of these priceless and unique gemstones.