Just when you thought that cars like the BMW i7, the Mercedes-Benz EQS, the Lucid Air Sapphire, and the Cadillac Celestiq were the be-all and end-all for electric luxury, Rolls-Royce comes out swinging with its first fully electric car, the Spectre, to show the rest of the automotive world how it’s done.
Instead of simply slapping an EV drivetrain on top of one of its existing vehicles, the automaker has decided to build a new design from scratch—even if it looks like its other products—in the pursuit of aerodynamic efficiency.
This “ultra-luxury electric super coupe,” as Rolls-Royce calls it, features the widest grille ever fitted on its cars. Aside from being illuminated, the grille, the Spirit of Ecstacy, and the rest of the gorgeous fastback bodywork have been sculpted for aero, so you won’t find that many hard edges on this car.
A drag coefficient of 0.25 makes it the most aerodynamic car from the automaker yet. And it rolls on 23-inch wheels, also making it the first car to come out of the brand’s factory with wheels this big. And yes, it only has two doors, but it’s long enough to comfortably seat four, considering it’s 5.4m long and 2m wide (almost similar to the Ghost).
The Spectre’s interior isn’t a big technological leap forward (thank goodness), retaining most of the traditional layout with tactile buttons, the most comfortable seats finished in the most lavish of materials, and a digital instrument cluster and an infotainment screen.
Beside it, the “Gallery” showcases the “Illuminated Fascia,” which has the nameplate surrounded by a cluster of over 5,500 stars, turning completely invisible when the car is off. Of course, if you don’t like that, you can probably spec it out with your own bespoke artwork.
The Starlight headliner is still present, but the Spectre one-ups it by incorporating it on the doors, calling it the “Starlight Doors.” Integrated within the door cards are 4,796 illuminated ‘stars’ that can be individually customized to match the night sky.
This is all underpinned by the “Architecture of Luxury” platform, which you can find in the various offerings like the Phantom, the Cullinan, and the Ghost. It’s only now that the marque deems electric drive technology worthy enough to put in a Rolls.
In fact, the engineers were able to get further benefits from a BEV architecture, integrating the battery into the structure, making the vehicle 30% stiffer, and also turning it into almost 700kg of sound-deadening.
It also has a brand-new Planar Suspension, which can decouple the anti-roll bars to make each wheel act independently. In simple terms, expect the smoothest of rides even on horrible roads.
The company says that the figures are still being “refined,” but preliminary data says that the car is expected to have a range of up to 520km, with power figures of 577hp and 900Nm leading to a 0-100km/h time of 4.5 seconds. It’s fast for a vehicle that weighs 2,975kg (without passengers).
Of course, it’s a smart vehicle, being connected by Whispers, the ultra-exclusive app that allows you to send curated navigation locations from the comfort of your smartphone. And if you’re inside the car, you can ask “Eleanor,” the voice assistant, to do most of these features for you.
The vehicle is still undergoing many months of testing to make sure it will survive the harshest of conditions for years to come (even if it will just be used to drive around the likes of Monaco and Beverly Hills), so the ultra-rich can rest easy.
You can place an order for one right now with deliveries slated for the fourth quarter of 2023. Starting prices are expected to be in between the Cullinan and the Phantom, but do you really even need to ask?
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