In 2009, Rolls-Royce announced a new addition to its portfolio that offered something entirely different to its flagship Phantom, the execution of the first Ghost, and it was an unmitigated success.
Over the course of its ten-year lifecycle, this transformative motor car became the most successful product in the company’s 116-year history. Ghost’s formidable success was vital in enabling the brand to scale up production, invest in its capabilities, and establish Rolls-Royce as the truly global brand it is today.
Due to the Ghost’s energetic, dynamic personality, clients realized that the Rolls-Royce brand could offer more than a chauffeur-driven experience. Indeed, in the United States of America and Europe, clients were self-driving their Ghost from the very early stages of its introduction. Meanwhile, in Asia, clients engaged heavily in the connected technology onboard, be it for business or pleasure.
The collective result is a new Ghost. This is a motor car precisely tailored to its clients, which appears perfect in its simplicity, underpinned by remarkable substance, that is less but better.
Engineering
First used on Phantom, then Cullinan, the proprietary aluminum spaceframe architecture, has now come to the new Ghost. Reserved exclusively for Rolls-Royce, this architecture enables the brand’s designers and engineers to develop an authentically super-luxury product, free from the constraints of platforms used to underpin high-volume vehicles.
The Rolls-Royce architecture is based around four fixed points, one at each corner of the motor car. The moveable aluminum bulkhead, floor, cross-members, and sill panels were positioned specifically to ensure the new Ghost meets client expectations as a motor car that is equally enjoyable to drive as it is to be driven in.
Further capitalizing on the marque’s aluminum expertise, the metal superstructure of the new Ghost is 100% made of the material. The car’s outer body is rendered as one clean, expansive piece, flowing seamlessly from the A-pillar, over the roof, and backward to the car’s rear.
This complete absence of shut lines allows clients to run their eye from the front to the rear of the car uninterrupted by ungainly body seams. To achieve this, four craftsmen hand weld the body together simultaneously to ensure a perfectly continuous seam. Also, 100% aluminum, laser-welded doors have been used.
Effortless Doors
Rolls-Royce clients have enjoyed self-closing doors since the first Phantom. Operated by a button on the dashboard and on the C-pillar for motor cars with rear doors, this innovation has been celebrated among customers. For the new Ghost, the marque’s engineers elected to develop this hallmark technology further, and, for the first time, clients can now also open the doors with power assistance.
Clients first open the door with one pull of the interior handle, then allow the handle to return to its resting position while they check for potential hazards, and then pull and hold it for full power assistance on opening. Once the door is opened sufficiently for the client’s egress, they simply stop pulling the handle, which engages a door brake.
Once the client has alighted, they can close the door completely automatically at the push of a button on the exterior door handle. If they prefer to close the door manually, the operation is power-assisted. On-board longitudinal and transverse sensors, as well as G-force sensors, fitted to each door, allow the same speed of operation regardless of hill or driveway angles.
Micro-Environment Purification SystemÂ
New Ghost benefits from a new Micro-Environment Purification System (MEPS). Existing air filtration technology was further developed to incorporate a full suite of hardware and software improvements. Highly sensitive Impurity Detection Sensors were introduced to detect ambient air quality, automatically switching fresh air intakes to Recirculation Mode if unacceptable levels of airborne contaminants are present. This channels all cabin air through a nanofleece filter, which is capable of removing nearly all ultra-fine particles from the Rolls-Royce’s microenvironment in less than two minutes.
The Most Technologically Advanced Rolls-Royce YetÂ
New Ghost is perfect in its simplicity, but creating this pure and detoxifying environment was one of the greatest challenges in the marque’s history. Indeed, the new Ghost is the most technologically advanced motor car Rolls-Royce has ever produced.
Further equipment includes: LED and laser headlights, vision assist, including day- and night-time wildlife and pedestrian warning; alertness assistant; a four-camera system with panoramic view, all-round visibility, and helicopter view; active cruise control; collision warning; cross-traffic warning; lane departure and lane change warning; an industry-leading 7×3 high-resolution head-up display; Wi-Fi hotspot; self-park; and the very latest navigation and entertainment systems.
Acoustics
Ghost clients operate in complicated business worlds. From the moment they step into the interior suite of their Rolls-Royce, they must be imbued with a sense of wellness. Visually, this is the result of an obsessive approach to reduction and unwavering dedication to material quality and substance. Experientially, however, this is achieved through peerless chassis and drivetrain engineering, as well as an unrelenting approach to creating a serene acoustic ambiance within the interior suite. Rolls-Royce acoustic engineers are experts in serenity.
For new Ghost, it was decided that this expertise would be formalised and the marque’s specialists would create a Formula for Serenity that could help inform future products.
The first element of this formula is the Rolls-Royce spaceframe architecture. Its aluminum construction has a higher acoustic impedance compared to steel. The bulkhead and floor sections are double-skinned, sandwiching composite damping felts to reduce road noise intruding into the passenger suite.
Once a highly insulated sound stage is created, components that generate almost imperceptible sound waves are tracked and modified. These are known by acoustic engineers as ‘hidden inputs.’
The inside of the air conditioning ducting, for example, created an unacceptable level of wind noise so it was removed and polished to inform the production of the final component. Even drivetrain hardware was adjusted to create new Ghost’s near-silent soundstage – the diameter of the prop shaft was adjusted and its rigidity increased to improve acoustics. The final element of the formula is harmonizing the car.
Bespoke Audio
As well as creating a serene environment for clients to enjoy in near silence, Rolls-Royce’s pursuit of acoustic perfection created an unparalleled sound stage for the marque’s Bespoke Audio engineers.
The new Ghost incorporates a resonance chamber into the body’s sill section; the frequency response of the Bespoke Audio speaker component defined the chamber’s size and shape. In essence, this transforms the motor car into a subwoofer.Â
Two active microphones in the cabin also enable an adaptive function, detecting the absence or overemphasis of frequencies before triggering the amplifier to adjust certain frequency ranges’ loudness to counteract it. The Bespoke Audio system makes the most of the highest quality uncompressed music, providing an exceptional listening experience.
Exterior
Since the first Rolls-Royce launch, great care has been taken to create a distinctive aesthetic universe for each motor car. The new Ghost reflects an evolved appreciation of luxury, defined by minimalism and purity, but underpinned by great substance. In the pre-sketch ideation phase of the new Ghost’s design development, this treatment was named ‘Post Opulence’ – a movement defined by the authenticity of materials rather than an overt statement, which had already established roots in architecture, fashion, jewelry, and boat design.
The new Ghost was given its own ethereal front-end character. This was achieved not by way of overt design, but with light. 20 LEDs underneath the top of the radiator grille subtly illuminate the vanes. During the development phase, early prototypes were over-effective and the light reflecting from the polished uprights looked too striking. In the spirit of Post Opulent aesthetics, the marque’s engineering team brushed the back of the metal grille bars, making them less reflective, subduing the effect and perfecting the restrained glow desired.
Interior
A clear understanding of clients’ changing luxury consumption patterns and a broader view of emerging design movements informed the marque that the interior aesthetic should pursue the same minimalist principles as the exterior.
To this end, the leather used to create the interior suite of the new Ghost is subject to the automotive industry’s most exhaustive quality control checks to ensure that each of the 338 panels used – however visible – is of the very best quality.
Wood sets for new Ghost are available in an open-pore finish, bravely showcasing materials in their naked form. Indeed, two new finishes have been developed specifically for the motor car. The first is Obsidian Ayous, inspired by the rich versatility of colors found in lava rock. The second is Dark Amber; this introduces subtle glamour to the interior suite by integrating fine aluminum particles’ vanes into the dark wood.
Bespoke
For new Ghost, the marque’s Bespoke Collective of designers, engineers, and craftspeople created Illuminated Fascia: a world-first innovation that subtly echoes the Starlight Headliner, which has become as much a part of Rolls-Royce iconography as the Spirit of Ecstasy, Pantheon Grille, and ‘Double R’ monogram.
Developed over the course of two years and more than 10,000 collective hours, this remarkable piece brings an ethereal glowing Ghost nameplate, surrounded by more than 850 stars, into the interior suite of the motor car. Located on the dashboard’s passenger side, the constellation and wordmark are completely invisible when the interior lights are not in operation.
Perfectly attuned to the new Ghost’s Post Opulent design treatment, the Bespoke Collective chose not to use simple screen technology to achieve its desired effect. Instead, they embarked on creating a highly complex and true luxury innovation. The illumination itself comes from 152 LEDs mounted above and beneath the fascia, each meticulously color-matched to the cabin’s clock and instrument dial lighting.
To ensure the Ghost wordmark is lit evenly, a 2mm-thick light guide is used, featuring more than 90,000 laser-etched dots across the surface. This not only disperses the light evenly but creates a twinkling effect as the eye moves across the fascia, echoing the subtle sparkle of the Starlight Headliner.
Extensive engineering work was undertaken to ensure the Illuminated Fascia remains completely invisible while not operational. To achieve this, three layers of composite materials are used. The first is a piano-black substrate, which is laser etched to allow light to shine through the wordmark and star cluster. This is then overlaid with a layer of dark-tinted lacquer, hiding the lettering when not in use. Finally, the fascia is sealed with a layer of subtly tinted lacquer before being hand polished to achieve a perfectly uniform, 0.5mm thick high-gloss finish, matching other high-gloss accents incorporated into the interior.
Price: If You Have To Ask…
As for the cost, $332,500 is the start, with customizable options your final cost will be a lot more. You can place your order now and deliveries of the 2021 Rolls-Royce Ghost begin early next year.
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