Rolls-Royce reveals its most advanced car, the all-new Ghost

The new Rolls-Royce Ghost is the top selling vehicle for the brand. Photos: Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce has just revealed its all-new Ghost, not only its most technologically advanced car but also “perfection in simplicity” thanks to a new design ethos for the famous British brand.

The Ghost is Roll-Royce’s top selling vehicle globally with a variety of customers around the world; from chauffeur driven to self-drive owners.

The original Ghost was launched in 2009 and since then Rolls-Royce has been canvassing its customers to find out their needs; with the result being the 2021 Ghost that offers luxury, amazing refinement but also high technology and greater performance.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Chief Executive Officer, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, said the only components carried over from the first Goodwood Ghost were the Spirit of Ecstasy and umbrellas. 

“The first Goodwood Ghost was a response to a whole new generation of clients, both in age and attitude. These men and women asked us for a slightly smaller, less ostentatious means to own a Rolls-Royce,” he said.

The rear of the Ghost is set for owners who want to be chauffeured.

“The success of the product we created for them fulfilled our most ambitious expectations. Over its ten-year lifespan, which began in 2009, Ghost has become the most successful model in the marque’s 116-year history.”

Priced from NZ$490,230 Rolls-Royce expects the final price for the Ghost to be higher as the cars are bespoke with customer specifications adding to the final figure. 

“Today we set new standards in customer centricity by creating a completely new motor car for a unique group of Rolls-Royce’s clients,” said Müller-Ötvös.

“These business leaders and entrepreneurs demand more of their Ghost than ever. They require a new type of super-luxury saloon that is dynamic, serenely comfortable and perfect in its minimalism. Ghost is this product.”

Client feedback asked for near-instant torque and near-silent running led the marque to further develop the Rolls-Royce 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine. A bespoke Ghost engine map was created to ensure ample performance for this dynamic motor car, delivering 420kW of power and 850Nm of torque to the all-wheel steer, all-wheel drivetrain.

It is packed with the latest technology including 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 7x3 high-resolution head-up display; Wi-Fi hotspot; self-park; and the very latest navigation and entertainment systems.

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.

The lights extend from the roof to the dash.

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 passenger side of the dashboard, the constellation and wordmark are completely invisible when the interior lights are not in operation.

The Rolls-Royce has proprietary aluminium spaceframe architecture that underpins its flagship, Phantom, and its Cullinan SUV. The spaceframe’s flexibility and scalability freed the marque to serve the unique aesthetic and mechanical demands of the new Ghost, and in doing so created an acoustically superior, highly rigid and dynamic proposition for Ghost within the Rolls-Royce product portfolio.

In its most pared back form, the Rolls-Royce architecture is based around four fixed points, one at each corner of the motor car. The moveable aluminium bulkhead, floor, crossmembers and sill panels were positioned specifically to ensure new Ghost meets client expectations as a motor car that is equally enjoyable to drive as it is to be driven in. Two of the cast suspension mounting assemblies were pushed to the very front of new Ghost, placing its V12 engine behind the front axle to achieve an optimum 50/50 weight distribution.

The 2021 Rolls-Royce Ghost is the most technically advanced in the range.

To accommodate this without intruding on new Ghost’s interior suite, its overall length has grown by 89mm, compared to the first Goodwood Ghost, to 5546mm, and its overall width has grown by 30mm to 1978mm. Significant changes were also made to the double-skinned bulkhead and floor structure packaging.

These were undertaken to incorporate an all-wheel drivetrain, all-wheel steering and completely redesigned Planar Suspension System, which further enhances the marque’s hallmark Magic Carpet Ride. This was achieved without compromising the motor car’s low centre of gravity, which aids cornering dynamics.

Further capitalising on the marque’s aluminium expertise, the metal superstructure of new Ghost is 100 per cent 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 backwards to the rear of the car, recalling the seemingly one-piece coachbuilt Silver Dawn and Silver Cloud models.

The Ghost is now 5546mm long, and increase in length over the previous one.

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. In addition, 100 per cent aluminium, laser-welded doors have been used. This not only offers weight benefits and remarkable 40,000Nm/deg stiffness, but the material has a lower acoustic impedance than steel, improving cabin ambience.

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 micro-environment in less than two minutes.

The Rolls-Royce Ghost is priced from $490,230.