The new Rolls-Royce Spectre will be launched next year as the British luxury brand’s first electric production car, promising refinement and performance on a par with – if not superior to – today’s combustion-powered models while introducing bold new design cues and advanced technical capabilities.
We've now tested a prototype Rolls-Royce Spectre. Read the full review: Rolls-Royce Spectre Prototype review
Based on Rolls-Royce’s aluminium Architecture of Luxury platform – and thus unrelated to parent company BMW’s range-topping EVs – the Spectre arrives as part of a rapid-fire electrification initiative that will result in the West Sussex firm phasing out its V12 engine and selling only electric cars from 2030.
Company CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös told Autocar that, in this sense, the Spectre is as important as the 1906 Silver Ghost – Rolls-Royce’s first production effort, hailed by Autocar’s contemporary road testers as “the best car in the world”.
Available to order now, it will be, he says, “the third pillar” of Rolls-Royce’s line-up in volume terms, slotting in price-wise between the best-selling Cullinan SUV and Ghost to fill the gap left by the now-retired Dawn and Wraith two-door duo. A basic starting price of around £275,000 is expected, but Müller-Ötvös noted that the average transaction price of one of his firm’s cars is now more than £500,000, such is the scope of high-calibre personalisation on offer for each model.
Powertrain
The Spectre arrives 11 years after the one-off 102EX, an electric prototype based on the Phantom VII that previewed the attributes of future Rolls-Royce EVs. Compared with that concept’s experimental underpinnings, though, the Spectre represents a significant leap in performance and usability.
Rolls-Royce will release official homologated figures once testing ends in the second quarter of 2023, but it predicts a range of 323 miles between charges – far higher than that of the 102EX – courtesy of a 120kWh battery (one of the largest of any production EV) that is capable of charging at speeds of up to 195kW.
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Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion.
Er... I s'pose it's a cool name?
Just didn't expect Rolls Royce to choose it! LOL
If ever a car was perfect for an electric drivetrain it is a Rolls Royce. For years they have had massively powerful engines which are almost silent, so most owners won't notice the difference.
So what? When was the last time you saw a Rolls Royce taking part in the traffic light Grand Prix? There are quite a few Rollers round where I live, and I never see them being driven fast.