The second-generation Rolls-Royce Ghost has arrived in UK showrooms ahead of the model’s customer deliveries scheduled in the fourth quarter of 2020. After final inspection at the Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood, England, the first batch of Ghost luxury saloons were dispatched to the brand’s eight UK dealerships in Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Essex, Leeds, London, Manchester, and Sunningdale.
According to Rolls-Royce, the new Ghost is
the result of “exhaustive dialogue with the marque’s customers”. Many of them
demanded a car that “rejected unnecessary branding, affectation or obtrusive
technology”. This led to designers taking a minimalist approach to the new
Ghost’s design language, which Rolls-Royce calls “Post-Opulence”.
London played a particularly important
role in defining the 2021 Ghost’s design direction. More specifically, the
capital’s landmark Shard building served as inspiration for the new Ghost’s
reductive approach to aesthetic form.
The second-generation Ghost marks a
significant departure from its predecessor as it ditches the BMW 7 Series
platform for Rolls-Royce’s bespoke rigid aluminum spaceframe architecture
shared with the Phantom flagship. As a result, the Ghost gains all-wheel drive
and all-wheel steering for the first time, as well as a world-first Planar
suspension system for increased agility and effortlessness.
Power comes from the hallmark 6.75-liter
twin-turbo V12 engine, hooked to the brand’s Satellite Aided Transmission. The
power plant delivers 571 PS and 850 Nm of torque available
from just 1,600 rpm – only 600 rpm above tick-over.
UK deliveries of the all-new Rolls-Royce
Ghost and Ghost Extended will begin in December 2020. Local pricing starts at
£ 208,000 for the standard wheelbase model. In the United States, deliveries
will start in early 2021, with the new Ghost carrying a starting MSRP of US$ 332,500.
