The previous Rolls-Royce Ghost was on sale for almost 10 years and the replacement is expected to last just as long. That had a bearing on the new sedan's look. "Purity is key to longevity," said Henry Cloake, who led the Ghost's exterior design.
Rolls-Royce describes the styling of its entry car as "post-opulent" in that it seeks to remove any non-essential detail.
Rolls-Royce's simple, pure Ghost still offers pizzazz
Rolls-Royce's desire to remove any non-essential detail from the Ghost resulted in there being no evidence of a join between the sedan's roof and side panels.
Basics
Launch date: September
Base price: 249,600 pounds (UK)
Where built: Goodwood, England
Platform: Rolls-Royce’s aluminum spaceframe
Lowest CO2 emissions: 347g/km (WLTP)
Main rivals: Bentley Flying Spur, Mercedes-Maybach S-Class
For example, there is no evidence of a join between the roof and the side panels, the result of a team of four welders in parent BMW Group's body shop in Dingolfing, Germany, working together to fuse the aluminum.
Post-opulent does not mean the car lacks extravagance. Customers have the option to illuminate the vanes of the Ghost's familiar grille, for example.
"It's minimalist but we're not trying to make anything cold or sterile," Cloake said. "It still has some charm to it."
Inside, Rolls-Royce has extended the idea of its starlight roof liner to the dashboard by perforating the piano-black veneer with 850 stars. The process actually created 90,000 perforations in total to achieve not just fixed light points, but a twinkling effect.
Rolls-Royce has extended the idea of its starlight roof liner to the dashboard.
7-year process
Work on the Ghost started seven years ago. "It was a very protruded development cycle," lead engineer John Sims said.
The aluminum spaceframe architecture that underpins all Rolls-Royce models had already been created, "so all that effort has gone into refinement," he said.
He gave the example of the integrated sound system, which embeds speakers into the box-section sills to enhance the audio quality.
Rolls-Royce describes the car as its most technologically advanced yet.
The new Ghost has all-wheel drive as well as all-wheel steer, where the rear wheels turn opposite to the front wheels to assist low-speed maneuvers.
At high speeds however, the two sets of wheels turn in the same direction. That helps the 2,553 kg car feel more nimble when driving fast. "In high-speed lane changes it gives the feeling of being completely settled," Sims said.
When it comes to the Ghost's driver assistance features, Rolls-Royce borrowed from BMW to equip the sedan with a night vision system that helps prevent accidents with pedestrians and wildlife and to provide the Ghost with a wide, high-resolution head-up display.
The sedan also has adaptive cruise control, but Rolls-Royce did not include lane-keeping assistance.
Fast facts
Smooth drive: Rolls-Royce refers to the car's "magic carpet ride," which is helped by a second damper that sits above the shock absorbers and air-filled struts. This so-called planar suspension system "dampens the damper" by removing more of the energy that might upset the body. Rolls-Royce says it's the first use of the technology in a road car.
Electric rear doors: The car assists in opening the heavy, rear-hinged rear doors. The passenger pulls the handle and they first open 10 cm to allow a hazard-check then open the whole way. They can also be opened manually with assistance. Gyroscopes measure the angle of the car so the level of assistance is the same even if the car is parked on a steep slope.
Engine: The Ghost's 6.75-liter, V-12 twin-turbo gasoline engine develops 563 hp and propels the Ghost from 0 to 100 kph (62 mph) in 4.8 seconds. Top speed is limited to 250 kph.
Seeking EV ‘perfection'
The Ghost also lacks any kind of electric assist for the 6.75-liter V-12 gasoline engine, resulting in a CO2 figure of 347 grams per km, which is well above the required fleet average of 95g/km that takes full effect in 2021.
"The reason we are not yet offering it in the Ghost is purely because when we offer electrification we will do it to perfection," Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös told Automotive News Europe.
He ruled out future plug-in hybrid versions of Rolls-Royce models because the technology currently fails to reach his standards, although he did say Rolls-Royce will have its first full-electric car ready in the 2020s.
The last Ghost was Rolls-Royce's best-selling car of all time, but this one has competition from the Cullinan SUV. They might be from the same stable but they are very different in character.
"The worst thing you can do is to say, what has worked for one subsegment works for another subsegment," Müller-Ötvös said. "The Cullinan needed to be a statement and the Ghost, by intention, has a more minimalist, more subtle design, and that way it fits perfectly."
