Author: Yan Chang

The topic of episode 3 of TopGear season 31 was: take a few old cars for off-road cross-country in Iceland.

For this show, it was almost a traditional topic that could not be more traditional, but presenter Paddy McGuinness made a stunning choice: to challenge all-terrain with a 1970s Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow.

When the story happens in a time span of up to 40 years, you will gain knowledge of some elements hidden at the bottom of the brand, and you will find that Rolls-Royce is not a synonym for stability and conservatism, on the contrary, its welcome and boldness for technological trends are obvious.

This is not just the spoof of fans. On the contrary, Rolls-Royce seems to want to extend the time span of this connection to a century ago.

In the official press release of the Rolls-Royce Spectre, it started with this statement: “In 1900, Charles Rolls, co-founder of Rolls-Royce, predicted the future of electric cars. After purchasing an electric car called the ‘Columbia Electric Car,’ he foresaw that if there was enough infrastructure support, it would become a clean and quiet alternative to internal combustion engines. Today, more than 120 years later, the moment has come for Rolls-Royce cars to realize their founder’s prophecy.”

The arrival of Spectre was not surprising. On the contrary, the climax of this drama began rehearsing several years ago. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös once said that he wanted to bring Rolls-Royce’s pure electric products into the world before 2030, and since 2021, Rolls-Royce has become the most reliable channel to obtain Spectre spy photos.

Therefore, for the Spectre that arrives today, I am grateful that you don’t have to look at it with so much surprise and passion.

Rolls-Royce never allows its products to be associated with going down a controversial path.

Therefore, even its most innovative product, the Wraith, has a mature body from the inside out.

In terms of exterior design, although Rolls-Royce claims that the Wraith has created a new category of ultra-luxury electric super coupes, everyone can still link it to the previous Rolls-Royce two-door works at the first glance. Despite its appearance, Wraith is a car that is as long as 5453 millimeters – this data is even longer than many 4-door long wheelbase D-class sedans.

Just like previous Rolls-Royce models, its own luxury starts with the luxury of space.

But just like the famous joke “The designer of Porsche 911 is the hardest working designer in the world,” creating new images based on the image of a tourist attraction is a huge challenge, especially when the call for electrification is often at odds with traditional luxury.

Rolls-Royce claims that the Wraith is a “spiritual and bewitching sculpture shaped by the air.” The entire design process of Wraith’s appearance took a total of 830 hours of design modeling and wind tunnel testing, and the results are naturally remarkable – based on the traditional grille design of Rolls-Royce, Wraith’s drag coefficient is only 0.25Cd – making it the most aerodynamic car Rolls-Royce has ever produced.

The iconic grille will not give up its dignity due to energy saving reasons. There are 22 LEDs behind the grille, which will illuminate the entire grille evenly and softly through the blades, forming a delicate and easy to identify nighttime image. The newly designed grouped headlights have also become another family symbol in the evolution history of Rolls-Royce.

The high nose of the car always leads the elegant side wings and smooth coupe treatment that belongs to Rolls-Royce, just like the bow of a ship that is accelerating and breaking through the waves, and naturally leaving the folds of the sea behind. The movement of Rolls-Royce has always been about showcasing a kind of ability instead of tension.

For example, the Wraith, equipped with a 23-inch wheel hub, is the first two-door Rolls-Royce product in a century, but what it guards is still the calmness of the unchanging logo in the middle of the drive.

As for appearance, we don’t need to focus too much on it, and the challenge inside seems to be the biggest for Rolls-Royce.

On the one hand, it needs to complete the largest structural challenge in Rolls-Royce’s history, and on the other hand, it needs to be successful and calm at the first attempt.

The traditional starry sky roof of Rolls-Royce seems to shuttle down like a meteor this time, and Wraith is equipped with a starry sky door for the first time, which includes 4,796 soft light “stars.” This is just part of the infinite customization interior that catches your eye first.

And the only constant is that you can get the best materials imaginable in almost every part of the interior.

This time, Wraith not only allows you to customize the physical part of the interior, but also the digital part. This set of digital system is named SPIRIT. For example, the color of the middle dial can be customized to match the interior color tone of the entire vehicle.

Rolls-Royce claims that Wraith is the most connected model in the history of Rolls-Royce, and many of Rolls-Royce engineers’ work has started to shift from workshop to digital space.

However, the difficulty obviously lies in electrification.

After all, emphasizing low center of gravity and quietness in electrification can only be an entrance exam for Rolls-Royce. How to achieve the driving sensation that Rolls-Royce has always pursued in the situation where power layout and power mode are completely overturned is the graduation thesis.

Although the Spirit of Ecstasy is based on Rolls-Royce’s “luxury architecture,” the introduction of all-electric architecture has brought Rolls-Royce into the 3.0 era, with the Spirit of Ecstasy benefiting from battery integration and increasing the vehicle’s body rigidity by 30% compared to previous Rolls-Royce models.

Moreover, designers working on the Spirit of Ecstasy consider the battery layout to be equivalent to 700kg of sound insulation materials.

Experience and testing are key to overcoming the unknown.

To ensure that the driving experience of the Spirit of Ecstasy embodies the consistent inheritance of the Rolls-Royce family, the brand has chosen the most experienced test and development engineers to lead the project, some of whom have worked for the brand for over 20 years and previously created the first Phantom of the Goodwood era.

The testing process for the Spirit of Ecstasy has covered almost every extreme scenario on earth, from sub-zero temperatures near the Arctic Circle to scorching heat of up to 55 degrees Celsius in Africa, and is already beyond 2.5 million kilometers. According to the offical, the testing process is equivalent to the car’s expected lifespan over 400 years, and even includes digital evolution at the French racetrack.

The suspension system of the Spirit of Ecstasy is designed to respond precisely to the driver’s input and road conditions, resembling an orchestra. Using the latest software and hardware development, the vehicle achieves Rolls-Royce’s iconic “magic carpet ride.”

By adjusting the damping and tilt of each wheel in detail, the Spirit of Ecstasy’s suspension can use its 18 sensors to have an intimate understanding of steering, braking, power transmission, and suspension parameters at all times, ensuring the stability of the vehicle.Surprisingly, Rolls-Royce did not finalize the performance parameters of the Spectre upon its launch. Preliminary information shows that its power system has an output of 430kW and 900N·m, allowing for 0-100km/h acceleration in 4.5 seconds, and a range of 585km under CLTC standards. However, in the news released overseas, that number is directly reduced to 520km.

So, is Rolls-Royce ready for this?

My view is cautiously pessimistic.

Even so, has the market already prepared for the pure electric Rolls-Royce?

Rolls-Royce stated that it will begin delivering the first batch of Spectres in the fourth quarter of 2023. More importantly, the most crucial point is that the position of the Spectre will be between the Cullinan and the Phantom.

This not only means that the price of the Spectre will reach an unprecedented height for an electric car, but also means that, in the absence of displacement taxes, its price positioning in the Chinese market will face a new challenge with a rearranging of the sequence.

We hope that discussions on the Spectre focus not only on its price, but also on the value of electric cars.

After all, from now on, electric cars are not just a string of astronomical numbers, but truly combine with nobility.

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This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.