Rolls-Royce unveils details about its latest bespoke machine: the Black Badge Spectre
That's why it's time to rejoice at some news from one of the industry's oldest players, Rolls-Royce.
That these wonderful behemoths still exist is already cause for celebration, but that's even more the case now that the world will soon have an even more outrageous beast on the road in the shape of the new Rolls-Royce Black Badge Spectre.Autoblog readers will, of course, know that the Spectre was introduced in 2023 in posh Napa Valley, California. It was Rolls' massive two-door, four-seat entry into the electric car market, even if Spectre is to a Tesla Model 3 EV what a drone is to SpaceX: not in the same universe.
For some Rolls-Royce clients, the Spectre was apparently not quite unique enough despite being 17 feet long, 7 feet wide, and boasting the bearing of a small yacht. So, for them, drum roll, please: The folks in Goodwood, England, have turned things up to 11, guided by their anonymized driving habit details.
In 2016, Rolls-Royce's custom (better known in Brit-speak as Bespoke) department rebooted its long-standing practice of producing more unique and often high-powered iterations of their cars under the name Black Badge, described by the company as being a more rowdy 'alter ego' to the otherwise stately countenance of the marque.
So far, there have been Black Badge versions of the Ghost, Wraith, Cullinan, and Dawn. Now it's the turn of Spectre, which, sorry, keeps making us think of the dastardly villains in James Bond movies.
'Black Badge owners from around the world permitted our specialists to access their anonymized data, enabling us to create a new driving experience perfectly suited to, and validated by, the way our clients use their motor car,' Dr. Bernhard Dressler, Rolls' director of engineering, said when explaining the company's development process. 'Following internal development, a small tranche of 'secret' Black Badge Spectres was built for a group of clients who requested the earliest possible access … and emphatically approved of our engineering response.'Let's get to the meat of it all. In Black Badge guise, the new Spectre can benefit from a temporary boost in electric-motor power to 659 hp from 585 hp. This is called Infinity Mode – playing off the infinity symbol that is a hallmark of this special series – and can be summoned by pressing the symbol on the steering wheel.
Also new is Spirited Mode, which draws inspiration from the ability of British Spitfire pilots to instantly summon more power from their aircraft engines. In the Spectre, Spirited Mode acts as a launch-control function, where fully depressing the brake and throttle bumps torque up to 792 lb-ft and results in a 0-to-60 dash of 4.1 seconds. Not bad at all for a car weighing 6,600 pounds.
The rest of the main Black Badge Spectre features are all visual. And boy, do they impress.
For its global debut, the Black Badge Spectre is being unveiled in an outrageous new paint hue called Vapor Violet, which takes the basic black theme to a new level. Rolls says the color is supposed to evoke 'the neon ambiance of the 1980s and 1990s club culture.' There's also a new Iced Black hood option, which can be paired with any of the company's palette of 44,000 on-demand shades. It's best to consult your designer first.
Rolls designers have come up with a new 23-inch five-spoke forged aluminum wheel design for the Black Badge Spectre that is a bit more sporting than most Rolls wheels. The wheel is available in either a part-polished or all-black finish.
As always with Black Badge variants, the brightwork is toned down with a signature dark finish, including the classic Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament, which leans more forward than in vintage models to, of course, assist with aerodynamics a bit.Perhaps the coolest feature associated with the ornament is that anyone looking to snap her off a parked Spectre as a souvenir is in for a surprise. Tug on her violently, and she'll suddenly disappear out of your hand and into the bodywork, ready to be summoned again by the car's owner.
Yet another design flourish for the Black Badge Spectre concerns the company's legendary and often quite massive front grille. In the Spectre, the grille is toned down just a touch and now boasts an Illuminated Grille backplate in purple, blue, yellow, chartreuse, and something called turchese. This touch can also be extended to illuminated treadplates and even the interior. Subtle, this car is not intended to be.
Inside, there is more of the same opulence, color, and luxury. The front fascia features an abstract version of the Spirit of Ecstasy, as well as frequent appearances of the aforementioned Infinity symbol, which Rolls points out was typically associated with 'historical water-speed records.'
The fascia also sparkles with more than 5,500 hand-laid fiber-optic 'stars' all set in a piano-black 'sky,' while the digital instrument dials are offered in a choice of five color themes: Vivid 'Grellow,' Neon Nights, Cyan Fire, Ultraviolent, and Synth Wave.What's clear is that Rolls-Royce, which forever had been associated with older owners, many of them chauffeured, is aiming for a younger monied crowd with cars like the Spectre, which also adds EV silence and eco-efficiency to its dance card with a 266-mile range. In fact, the sprinting ability of Infinity Mode was designed specifically after determining that Rolls owners do like to put their foot in it but only to produce quick sprints rather than cruising at high speeds for extended periods of time.
But that's not to say the company expects anyone to buy these handcrafted stallions as daily drivers. In fact, Rolls points out that in surveying its clientele, it has determined that most owners possess an 'average of seven cars in their garage and drive an average of 3,200 miles in their current Rolls-Royce per year.'
Put another way, these cars are really more about having occasional automotive experiences that frankly have nothing to do with running a mall errand in your fill-in-the-blank machine. This is about going back in time to when motorcars, as the Brits call them, could be truly transformational experiences. It was a time when how you got there was more important than where you were going.
And for that, we're glad Rolls-Royce and its craftspeople are still doing what they do, even if most of us will only experience one of these four-wheeled cruise ships as it glides quietly past. And that goes double when the Rolls in question is on an even more lofty plain like the Black Badge.
Sorry, 007, but all hail this Spectre.
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