“Ladies and Gentlemen: The battle is over!” An automobile era comes to an end, a Scottish bagpiper blows the tattoo. Only after the last bleat of the bagpipes do the twelve-cylinder engines start. True enthusiasts pay attention to the proven style even in difficult times. Tradition is sacred to lovers of historic cars from England, just like classic Wilton carpets, rosewood and Conolly leather.
Rolls-Royce and Bentley once meant mobility under the sign of the British Empire. That epoch when a European country was still a world power. A car with an upright radiator and enough headroom for ruling heads. After all, monarchs and maharajas, Queen Mum and Marlene Dietrich could not be expected to crawl out of the back seat.
But in the 1950s the imperial car era came to an end. The first victim was the chauffeurs, who had to give up their place behind the steering wheel to the gentleman drivers. With the practical self-drive came the loss of upright posture: from a roof height of 1.88 meters (Phanton IV, 1950), Rolls-Royce shrank to the bourgeois sedan dimensions of the Silver Shadow (1.49 meters, 1965). The profanation of the car icon ultimately meant the end of independent coachbuilders such as Park Ward, Mulliner and James Young. Instead of peening the sheet metal over wooden frames according to individual wishes, since 1965 Rolls-Royce have mostly rolled out of the factory with a standard body. shocking!
Nobel goes to the bottom: times are bad – so ripe for the public welfare ride in the new luxury. “It is the need for representation, especially in times when shortages are imminent,” explains author Hans Magnus Enzensberger. Even in ancient times, the rich and powerful were obliged to celebrate public spectacles with pomp and extravagance. Enzensberger calls this “the collective attempt to escape from the hardship and monotony of life”. This is the only way to explain that the magnificent sleighs are not dying out, but on the contrary are attracting younger and younger customers.
Today, a luxury car can also be painted in neon colors, as long as it gets likes on the street and on the Instagram account. Here rappers and young computer game developers pose in competition with the RR hood ornament Emily. Which is obviously not understood as a provocation, but still as a promise of an ideal world. The icon of empire is being adapted by young super rich around the world. Instead of the chauffeur, they sit in the driver’s seat themselves, simply because it’s fun. Hard to believe: with an average age of 43, Rolls-Royce has younger customers than the supposed teenage brand Mini.
Dealing with the symbols of social advancement has become more playful, less traditional. Today, Rolls-Royce is the most popular car brand mentioned in pop songs, according to a Bloomberg study. If there is a break with tradition, then it is the farewell to the combustion engine. “The luxury of the future is sustainable,” postulates Mercedes and continues to develop into a luxury brand with expensive e-cars. “Sustainability is the basis of all research and development activities at Mercedes-Benz. Our goal is technological leadership in environmental engineering by achieving more with less,” announces Mercedes Head of Development Markus Schäfer.
More with less, that sounds good, but it’s relative. After all, the fine clientele should not have to do without anything. The new all-electric Rolls-Royce Specter, for example, tips the scales at more than 2.8 tons – possibly a record for a four-door car with a coupé-like roofline and another 350 kilograms heavier than a Ghost with twelve cylinders of about the same size. With a length of almost 5.50 meters and a height of almost 1.60 meters, the upcoming e-car is certainly not a parking miracle. But it doesn’t look much more sluggish than a Porsche Taycan that is 20 centimeters lower. This is due (as with the five-meter-long Porsche) to the rear-axle steering, the low center of gravity, the extremely stable body and the even weight distribution: without swaying, diving under braking or wiggling the rear, the RR reacts to the smallest ones, even at motorway speeds wave from his driver. Renunciation drives differently.
Specter means poltergeist. The luxury brand is thus continuing its tradition: Phantom, Ghost and Wraith have been haunting the model range for decades. But now it is time to say goodbye to the combustion engine – which is not difficult in the world of the super-rich: the targeted customers can of course charge at home and in the office and for longer distances they take the private jet.
Even as a prototype a year before the start of series production, the Specter looks as if the brand had been invented specifically for e-mobility: “Electric cars are wonderfully silent and clean. There are no unpleasant smells or vibrations. That’s why they will be very useful as soon as you have the appropriate charging stations.” This set by Charles Rolls is almost 120 years old.