Rolls-Royce will unveil the new Ghost saloon next week, September 1, but has now shown the first actual detail of it following a little sketch and a letter from the CEO announcing the car’s existence last month. Read that story, including the fairly melodramatic letter in full, by clicking right here.
Today we’ve been shown the passenger side nameplate, including a backlit ‘star cluster’. It doesn’t sound that exciting, right, but when you hear about the detail that’s gone into it you might be a little less cynical. If you understand it, that is.
But first we’ll build it up for you by quoting directly from the Rolls-Royce press release. Check this out:
“The Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood, West Sussex, is a global centre of luxury manufacturing excellence. The Bespoke Collective of designers, engineers and craftspeople who operate from this world-renowned facility restlessly create innovative and sophisticated means for Rolls-Royce clients to bring their Bespoke visions to life. Today, this highly creative group of specialists present Illuminated Fascia: a Bespoke innovation created exclusively for new Ghost.”
The plank, then. It took two years and 10,000 hours to develop, comprising an “ethereal glowing Ghost nameplate surrounded by more than 850 stars,” an effect that’s a world first because of the way it’s achieved. A total of 152 LED lights, colour matched to the car’s clock and instrument panel backlighting, are…actually we’re not quite sure we understand how it works, so we’ll give you Rolls-Royce’s description and let you figure it out. It’s definitely not just a backlit MDF slab with some holes drilled into it, though. That we can confirm.
“The illumination itself is achieved by way of 152 LEDs mounted above and beneath the fascia, which are meticulously colour matched to the cabin’s clock and instrument dial lighting. To ensure that the Ghost graphic is lit evenly, a two-millimetre thick light guide is used, featuring more than 90,000 laser-etched dots across the surface. This not only disperses the light evenly but creates a twinkling effect as the eyes moves across the fascia, echoing the subtle twinkle of Starlight Headliner.
“Extensive engineering work was undertaken to ensure that Illuminated Fascia was completely invisible while not operational. To achieve this, three layers of composite materials are used. The first is a Piano Black substrate, which is laser etched to remove the black colouring and allow light to shine through the Ghost wordmark and star cluster. This is then overlaid with a layer of dark tinted lacquer, hiding the lettering when not in use. Finally, the fascia is sealed with a layer of subtly tinted lacquer before being hand polished to achieve a perfectly uniform 0.5mm thick, high-gloss finish, matching other high gloss accents incorporated into the interior.”
Nope, us neither. It looks nice though, yes? We can’t wait to see it in a YouTube video with some dreadful mumble rap artist planting his or her Air Jordans on top of it.
The new Ghost will be the second generation of the model, following the highly successful original launched in 2009, a model that sent Rolls-Royce ‘mainstream’ in a way. Its £200,000 price point meant that those looking for a Bentley could now spend similar money on a Rolls-Royce, which, let’s face it, has the sort of upper-class appeal that a Bentley simply does not in the post-Continental GT age.
This new one, we’re told, will be the most advanced and dynamic Rolls-Royce ever made but, as demonstrated by this particular wooden plank, will still have the sort of meticulous opulence that anyone buying a Rolls would expect.
Keyword: Roll-Royce unveils illuminating first feature of new Ghost