Rolls-Royce Spectre Series II

It doesn’t seem like that long ago we got to drive the (then) prototype version of the Rolls-Royce Spectre on South African soil (original article here). But fast forward three years and a Series II version has just been unveiled. The important part is not just that it goes further on a charge or makes more torque. It is that Rolls-Royce has listened to how people are actually using Spectre, and made changes accordingly.

Spectre is a landmark motor car for Rolls-Royce – conceived by our engineers, designers and craftspeople, informed by our clients and acclaimed the world over. It amplifies the qualities our clients value most: silence, effortlessness and abundant power, confirming that Rolls-Royce is perfectly suited to electrification. With Spectre Series II, we extend those possibilities even further. This refinement of a modern masterpiece is made in the spirit of our co-founder, Sir Henry Royce, who said: ‘Small things make perfection, but perfection is no small thing’.
Chris Brownridge, Chief Executive, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

A quieter car that now goes harder

Spectre Series II still looks like Spectre, which is exactly the point. The fastback shape, the clean surfacing and the split headlamp signature stay in place, because the original design already carried the kind of restraint that tends to age well. Rolls-Royce has not needed to reinvent it. It has simply made the car more capable.

The headline engineering change is an 18 percent increase in driving range, which pushes the range up to between 578-629 km. Charging time is down by 14 percent too, while output rises to 442 kW and 1 015 N.m in standard form. Opt for a Spectre Series II in Black Badge configuration and the number rises to 500 kW.

The client use case is the story

Rolls-Royce did studied how owners actually live with the car. Spectre is often the second Rolls in a seven-car garage, yet it is driven often enough to matter. The average annual distance covered is about 6 500 km. That alone tells you Spectre is not being treated like a museum object. More owners are using it daily.

One European customer has already covered more than 50 000 km, in two years. Another in Los Angeles has described a small ritual that sounds very Los Angeles and very Rolls-Royce at the same time, driving down from a hilltop to a lower garage and arriving with more range than he started with because of regenerative braking.

The Black Badge edition turns meaner

Black Badge Spectre Series II (blue car pictured) gets its own treatment, and the changes are more than cosmetic noise. Almost all the brightwork moves to a dark satin finish through Iced Black Exterior Detailing, including the grille surround, side frame finishers, bumper inserts, door handles, the Double R Badge of Honour surround and even the Spirit of Ecstasy.

A new wheel design finishes the look. It exposes more of the braking hardware, there is a fine-glass sparkle in the finish, and for the first time on a Black Badge wheel, Iced Matte Black is also available through a high-temperature curing process.

The cabin gets the most theatrical upgrade of all. The facia now carries a full-width Illuminated Fascia artwork with 8 108 pixel-like lights that ripple in a wave pattern inspired by the mist near Goodwood. The new timepiece, with its aviation-instrument feel, looks built for legibility rather than ornament. Beside it sits an up-lit Spirit of Ecstasy in solid stainless steel.