Rolls-Royce Motor Cars PressClub · Article.
ROLLS-ROYCE PRESENTS BLACK BADGE GHOST SERIES II: A DARING EXPRESSION OF LUXURY AND POWER
08.10.2024 Press Release
The most powerful, agile and technical expression of Black Badge, Rolls-Royce’s disruptive alter ego, is embodied by Ghost. Today, the marque presents a daring evolution of this unapologetic and uniquely driver-focused motor car with Black Badge Ghost Series II, meticulously redesigned to provide this rebellious group of clients with a dramatic canvas for their bold Bespoke commissions.
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Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
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Georgina Cox
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
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- Rolls-Royce presents a daring and powerful new expression of Black Badge Ghost
- The most agile, driver-focused and technical Black Badge Rolls-Royce ever
- Uncompromising 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 presented in high-power configuration
- All-wheel-drive, all-wheel-steering chassis with Black Badge Planar Suspension System
- Bespoke coachwork and 22-inch wheels reserved for Black Badge Ghost Series II
- Integrates new digital interface, SPIRIT, and private members app, Whispers
- Available to commission now, alongside Ghost Series II and Ghost Extended Series II
“As an authentic House of Luxury, we are driven by the desires
of our clients. Our Black Badge series of motor cars is a space that
we have created within our brand for them to make the most daring
and self-confident statements. Black Badge Ghost responds to a very
specific demand among these individuals – those who wish to enjoy
the potency of this motor car’s uncompromising engine and inherent
agility almost exclusively from the driver’s seat. For Black Badge
Ghost Series II, we have enhanced its owner-driver appeal by
incorporating a high-power expression of our legendary engine along
with an even more assertive and technical design treatment and
textile palette. This motor car, which is the most powerful and
driver-focused V12 Rolls-Royce ever, signals our ongoing commitment
to the world’s boldest and most dynamic super-luxury consumers.”
Chris Brownridge, Chief Executive, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
“With Black Badge Ghost Series II we have introduced subtle but
impactful design impulses that clearly signal this motor car’s
incredible agility and power, while upholding the purity and
presence of our overarching design approach. These restrained but
disruptive styling details, reserved exclusively for Black Badge
Ghost Series II, reflect our clients’ desire to command attention
with their Bespoke commissions, and experience every journey with a
bold sense of purpose.”
Juliane Blasi, Head of Exterior Design, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
The most powerful, agile and technical expression of
Black Badge, Rolls-Royce’s disruptive alter ego, is embodied by Ghost.
Today, the marque presents a daring evolution of this unapologetic and
uniquely driver-focused motor car with Black Badge Ghost Series II,
meticulously redesigned to provide this rebellious group of clients
with a dramatic canvas for their bold Bespoke commissions.
BLACK BADGE GHOST SERIES II: EXTERIOR
Black Badge Ghost Series II’s daring is in its subtle
yet impactful exterior design. The most significant styling statement
is the lower grille, marking the first time Black Badge Ghost has
received a unique styling treatment. The lower brake air intake now
features a new geometry, with two darkened chrome strips running
longitudinally to functional air ducts, surrounded by technical black
chrome frames. These pieces emphasise the verticality and solidity of
the motor car’s Pantheon Grille, behind which lies the centrepiece of
this motor car – the uncompromising and potent V12 engine.
Black Badge Ghost Series II retains the Black Badge-defining
black chrome treatment, where Rolls-Royce hallmarks such as the Spirit
of Ecstasy, Pantheon Grille and side-mounted ‘Badge of Honour’ are
darkened. To create the effect, a specific chrome electrolyte is
introduced to the traditional chrome plating process that is
co-deposited on the stainless-steel substrate, darkening the finish.
Each darkened component is precision-polished by hand to achieve a
mirror-black finish. For the first time on Black Badge Ghost, the door
handles are completed with a black finish, further extending the noir
effect that captivates the world’s most disruptive super-luxury consumers.
BLACK BADGE GHOST SERIES II: A DRAMATIC WHEEL TREATMENT
Black Badge Ghost Series II’s most dramatic exterior
statement is a 22-inch part-polished, seven-spoke forged wheelset.
Styled to project the mechanical complexity of its legendary
high-power V12 engine and chassis technology, the reduced visual mass
of the wheel and slender spoke geometry provide a clear view of the
powerful disc brakes. This design signals the motor car’s potency and
extraordinary dynamic abilities – a defining aspect of Black Badge
Ghost’s character that draws an increasing number of clients to the
Rolls-Royce brand and inspires the boldest Bespoke commissions.
BLACK BADGE GHOST SERIES II: INTERIOR
The dark, technical surfaces that codify Black Badge
are used discreetly yet extensively within the interior of Black Badge
Ghost Series II. Perhaps the subtlest illustration of Rolls-Royce’s
alter ego is within the new Clock Cabinet; the vitrine houses an
analogue timepiece and an up-lit Spirit of Ecstasy figurine, presented
in black chrome rather than a mirror-polished finish. This elegant
expression of contemporary craft is placed alongside the uprated
Central Information Display, which now integrates the marque’s new
advanced SPIRIT operating system.
BLACK BADGE GHOST SERIES II: CRAFTING CARBON FIBRE
Below the glass fascia and throughout the interior,
Black Badge Ghost Series II features a meticulously crafted Technical
Carbon surface finish. The marque’s craftspeople developed a complex
but restrained diamond-shaped weave using carbon and metallic fibres
on top of a black Bolivar wood base. Leaves woven from resin-coated
carbon and contrasting metal-coated thread are laid by hand in a
diamond pattern, which creates a three-dimensional effect. Each
component is then cured for one hour under pressure at 100°C. The
surface is sand-blasted to create a ‘key’ for six layers of lacquer,
which is hand-sanded before being polished to a brilliant finish. The
final effect is subtle, yet rewards those who examine it with
remarkable depth and clarity.
If Immersive Seating is commissioned with a Centre Console,
clients can specify the Black Badge family motif, the infinity symbol,
onto the rear Technical Carbon ‘Waterfall’ section that separates the
rear reclining seats and conceals the Champagne cooler. Rendered in
aerospace-grade aluminium, it is applied between the third and fourth
layers of six layers of tinted lacquer, which appears to make the
symbol float.
Black Badge Ghost Series II also uses an advanced technique
known as physical vapour deposition to darken the interior metals. The
speaker grilles and air vent surrounds on the dashboard and in the
rear cabin are enhanced with this process, which does not discolour or
tarnish through repeated use, exposure to temperature extremes, or
over time.
BLACK BADGE GHOST SERIES II: A DISRUPTIVE MATERIAL MIX
Black Badge clients are invited to explore the new
materials made available for Ghost Series II. This includes the
marque’s dramatic Duality Twill textile, an innovative rayon fabric
made from bamboo. The development of this bold new material was
inspired by the extensive bamboo grove in Le Jardin des
Méditerranées on the Côte d’Azur, which neighbours Sir Henry
Royce’s former winter home, Villa Mimosa. It is embroidered with an
artistic ‘Duality’ graphic, which is based on an abstract
interpretation of the two interlinked letter R initials of the
marque’s founders. A complete Duality Twill interior can incorporate
up to 2.2 million stitches and 11 miles of thread, taking up to 20
hours to complete. This exquisite material can be made even more
impactful with daring and extrovert contrast colourways that clients
can create with 51 colours of thread to choose from, further elevating
this remarkable new finish for Black Badge clients.
Alternatively, clients may choose Placed Perforation – an
innovative contemporary craft technique in which small perforations
are made in the seat leather to create unique artworks. The
perforations vary in size to create the perception of depth, allowing
detailed and seemingly three-dimensional graphics to be created. The
initial pattern is inspired by the shifting shapes and shadows of
clouds over the Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood. It is composed of up
to 107,000 0.8- and 1.2-millimetre perforations, each individually
examined to ensure absolute uniformity.
BLACK BADGE GHOST SERIES II: ENGINEERING
In Black Badge Ghost Series II, the formidable V12
engine is presented in a high-power configuration, producing 29PS more
power and 50NM more torque than Ghost Series II. As with all
Rolls-Royce Black Badge models, the ‘Low’ button situated on the gear
selection stalk unlocks Black Badge Ghost’s full suite of
technologies, including a 50% increase in gearshift speeds when the
throttle is depressed to 90%, and a subtly more voluble note from the
motor car’s exhaust system – features that dramatise, but never
compromise the effortless Rolls-Royce driving experience.
To harness this additional power, the Black Badge Planar
Suspension system is used for Black Badge Ghost Series II. As with
Ghost Series II, this decorated chassis technology incorporates a
unique Upper Wishbone Damper unit above the front suspension assembly.
This is linked with continuously variable, electronically controlled
shock absorbers and self-levelling air strut assemblies front and rear
to create an even more agile expression of the marque’s signature
‘magic carpet ride’.
To inspire driver confidence, when exploring the motor car’s
significant power reserves, the braking bite point has been raised,
and pedal travel decreased, directly responding to client requests for
a uniquely potent expression of the Rolls-Royce brand.
THE LUXURY OF AGILITY
Black Badge Ghost Series II reflects a growing desire
among the marque’s clients to enjoy a dramatic expression of the
brand’s uncompromising V12 engine and uniquely advanced chassis
systems while benefitting from Rolls-Royce’s peerless Bespoke
capabilities. This extraordinary new motor car builds on the
overwhelming success of its predecessor, embodying a bold vision of
luxury in motion.
CO2 EMISSIONS & CONSUMPTION.
WLTP (combined) CO2 emission: 359-348 g/km; Fuel consumption: 17.9-18.3 mpg / 15.8-15.4 l/100km.