Rolls-Royce debuts Spectre, the marque’s first fully-electric motor car, heralding the beginning of an all-electric era for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. The Spectre, dubbed the world’s first ultra-luxury electric super coupe, is a successor to the Phantom Coupe.

In 1900, Rolls-Royce co-founder, Charles Rolls, prophesied an electric future for the motor car. Having acquired an electric vehicle named The Columbia Electric Carriage, he foresaw its suitability as a clean, noiseless alternative to the internal combustion engine – providing there was sufficient infrastructure to support it. Today, more than 120 years later, the time has come for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars to fulfil the prophecy of its founding father.

The Spectre is based on the ‘All-Aluminium Architecture of Luxury’ platform that also underpins the existing Phantom. The Spectre with its generous proportions and split headlight treatment emphasizes the contemporary Rolls-Royce design tenet. From the front, Spectre’s split headlight treatment is intersected by the widest grille ever bestowed on a Rolls-Royce.

The silhouette’s most noticeable feature is Spectre’s fastback, which recalls the most evocative motor cars and watercraft in history. Following the roofline back, the tail lamps are set into the largest single-body panel ever produced for a Rolls-Royce, which extends from the A-pillar to the luggage compartment. Spectre is the first production two-door coupé to be equipped with 23-inch wheels in Rolls-Royce’s one hundred years.

Inside, Spectre is provisioned with the most technologically advanced Bespoke features yet. For the first time on a series production Rolls-Royce, Spectre is available with Starlight Doors, which incorporate 4,796 softly illuminated ‘stars’. The ethereal night-time theme continues with Spectre’s Illuminated Fascia.

Alongside the extraordinary, illuminated surfaces, Spectre is equipped with a completely redesigned digital architecture of luxury named Spirit, presented in quintessential Rolls-Royce style. Not only will Spirit manage the motor car’s functions, but it is seamlessly integrated into the marque’s Whispers application, allowing clients to interact with their car remotely, and receive live information curated by the marque’s luxury intelligence specialists.

Preliminary data shows that Spectre is expected to have an all-electric range of 520 kilometres WLTP and offer 900Nm of torque from its 430kW powertrain. It is anticipated to achieve 0-100km/h in 4.5 seconds. With many months of testing and optimisation still ahead, these figures are subject to change ahead of official confirmation prior to the market launch in Q4 2023.

The introduction of a fully-electric powertrain and Decentralised Intelligence into the marque’s portfolio represents Rolls-Royce 3.0 and the beginning of the bold new all-electric era. Rolls-Royce has confirmed that by the end of 2030 its entire product portfolio will be fully-electric.