21-05-2025
Rolls-Royce Phantom 8 Is 100. Could 2125's Phantom 16 Be A True Flying Lady?
The Rolls-Royce Phantom name has been sitting in the stratosphere of car-dom for 100 years.
But what about the next 100 years, and the journey Phantom might take at the average rate of a new or updated version every 12-and-a-half years?
It seems Phantom might today be an indication of future features for "everyday" cars, while Phantom itself may move to an entirely new level: airborne luxury.
Tom Cheesewright is an applied futurist. He's a mechanical and electrical engineering university graduate, who, through analyzing the past and tracking trends, advises a range of organizations—NASA, Ford and Pepsi amongst them—on what's next, and what's after that, then after that. He's also a car nut.
Who better to sit with in the Phantom 8's passenger "suite" and ask the question about the future of Phantom, and how we as a race will fit cars into our lives.
"History and heritage count for less these days. Quality and service count for more. So long as Rolls-Royce continues to exhibit quality and deliver service, then its relevance will grow," he says.
Given the arguably peerless quality of its product and service that's certainly a deliverable ask, and a lead maintained swan-like: gliding along, but with not a chance of knowing just what unseen efforts are deployed.
Service from the self-described "house of luxury," aimed at making everything about life in the Rolls-Royce universe effortless, sits right at the top of standard-setting.
They'll be chased hard, not by competitors, but by natural technological evolution.
"Luxury trickles down. Not so long ago a passenger wing mirror was a luxury, having entertainment was a luxury, all things standard on family cars for years," said Cheesewright.
"So you can expect some of the things in this Phantom to be the norm in more modest cars over the next 100 years—the sense of solidity and strength, and the wafty quality of movement. Those will be normal."
While, says Cheesewright, most cars will be self-driving in 100 years, Phantom-level adjustability and comfort of seating, massage, heating, cooling, all of those things we've come to expect on a high-end vehicle, will become the norm in mid-range cars.
There could well be personalized entertainment screens all round, but a lot of the technology in cars won't be so obvious.
"It'll be completely invisible, integrated—in many ways the direction of travel of luxury car interiors now," he says.
"What is 'luxury' is less and less obvious and more and more discreet—luxury is time and not having to think, or fiddle, or press. It's things that just work. In 100 years' time, every car will be focused on things that just work and don't show their underlying workings.
"Some of the most exciting areas of research right now are in material science, in the underlying elements or compounds that have their own properties.
"You could make a car that's stronger and stiffer with less, sound deadening that's thinner, heating and cooling with much less engineering."
Rolls-Royce has always been about craftsmanship. "When it comes to artisans, in 100 years it's hard to say the part they'll play. But in the near-term, I think the artisan picture looks pretty good.
"Androids in car making may not be in mass adoption yet, but you can see the direction of travel. That's great for the mass market, but it only serves to increase the value of the personal, the individual, the handcrafted, the things that have got the artisan signature on them."
Such progression relies on world economies being strong and consistently stable enough to support the appetite for investment in cash-hungry automotive development.
"But we're going to want them (artisans, and their output) as a way to help demonstrate our status, as a way to differentiate ourselves," said Cheesewright.
"Look at the new generation coming through—Gen Alpha—they're interested in things that are individual, unique or personal to them because they've grown up with everything being digital, copy-able, mass-produced. They've got an almost punk aesthetic; they either want something unique to them, or they make it themselves.
"But then the really big epiphany after we've sorted the EV thing is probably going to be the completion of the ACE vision—the 'autonomous connected electric' vehicle," says Cheesewright.
"We'll have ticked off the electric bit largely by the mid-2030s; the connected bit's kind of there, albeit with some issues around security here and there. But the autonomous piece has taken longer than expected—some of us saying it won't be till the 2040s or 2050s, until any car can navigate any conditions, any roads at any time of day or night with just the voice command. True 'Class 5' (completely self-driving).
"The really interesting point is not the completion of that vision, it's the backlash against it. And that gets really interesting: Does piloting your own car become a statement of competence, capability, wealth?
"Insurance will almost certainly be higher. For a human pilot to choose to drive their own car will be expensive, if synthetic fuels are still available, a relatively expensive option compared to running a battery electric vehicle.
"I think having a combustion engine will be a statement, piloting yourself will be a statement. That opens up some really interesting design possibilities, particularly for low-volume cars, very artisanal and catering to that desire to do and drive something different.
"Owning and driving a 'stick-shift' manual transmission car in North America doesn't just make you cool, it's a marker of competence, more awareness of your driving environment, and an enviable ability to truly enjoy your car.
"I expect that as we lose the sense of control and enjoyment of piloting, let's be honest, a dangerous machine round the roads, we'll look to other ways to get that thrill. Amateur motorsport might be in for a real boom as we go through that shift."
What will the wealthy want from their transport? "I think they will probably own their main ACE vehicle, unlike a lot of other people who will 'subscribe' to vehicle usage on demand.
"The wealthy will have a subscription like everybody else—but which allows them to be picked up in something suitably swanky wherever they want.
"I think ownership will remain a status piece for the ultra-high net worths, the ability to customize, the ability to have things that are to their expectations, to their standards, but more importantly to their preference that are a piece of them. Like Rolls-Royce.
"Today, the vast majority of users are traveling in cars they don't own, are paying on finance. It's really only a small cognitive shift from that to a subscription- or service-based car, there when it's wanted."
Cheesewright says UHNWs will probably make greater use of personal air transport. "It's been surprising how slow personal electric aircraft have come about. But I think they'll be using those because they'll be quiet, they'll be safe, great for going between city and airport.
"Property developers in London, for instance, have been building landing pads into office developments and high-end residential developments for years, with the likes of Skyports buying and leasing them; these things are coming."
Could there be a flying Phantom 16? "People have a have a real brand affinity for a particular type of vehicle. If someone loves Rolls-Royce, then the idea they can get out of the ground-bound vehicle and into a same-brand air-capable vehicle, the same interior experience, I think that would appeal hugely.
The Rolls-Royce Phantom outside Brae Cottage, what was Sir Henry Royce's home in Cheshire, England.
"It might be more of a partnership than Rolls-Royce doing the manufacturing. But in 100 years' times a coachbuilt Rolls-Royce Flying Lady personal electric aircraft? I can see that happening. And they already have the figurine…"
