In an historic announcement, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars announced its first fully electric car which will come to market in Q4 2023. The new product, named ‘Spectre’, fulfils the 1900 prophecy of the marque’s founder, Charles Rolls and promise kept by the CEO, who has pledged to bring an electric car to market this decade.
An exhaustive global testing programme will now commence, covering 2.5 million kilometres – a simulation of 400 years of use. Spectre is underpinned by Rolls-Royce’s own proprietary spaceframe architecture.
Rolls-Royce has also announced that by 2030 all Rolls-Royce products will be fully electric.
In announcing this seminal moment for the marque, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Chief Executive Officer, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, said:
“Today is the most significant day in the history of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars since 4th May, 1904. On that date, our founding fathers, Charles Rolls and Sir Henry Royce, first met and agreed that they were going to create ‘the best motor car in the world.’
Today, 117 years later, I am proud to announce that Rolls-Royce is to begin the on-road testing programme for an extraordinary new product that will elevate the global all-electric car revolution and create the first – and finest – super-luxury product of its type. This is not a prototype. It’s the real thing, it will be tested in plain sight and our clients will take first deliveries of the car in the fourth quarter of 2023.”
“We embark on this bold new future with a huge advantage. Electric drive is uniquely and perfectly suited to Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, more so than any other automotive brand. It is silent, refined and creates torque almost instantly, going on to generate tremendous power. This is what we at Rolls-Royce call ‘waftability.’
“It is the beginning of a new legacy for our brand. In that spirit, we have decided on a completely new name for this car. It’s a name that perfectly fits the ethereal and other worldly environment within which our products exist – a name that we have reserved especially for this moment: Spectre.”
“Spectre is a name given to otherworldly beings synonymous with great power and apparition; creatures of an alternative realm that make their presence felt through fleeting manifestation. A spectre forces the world to pause. It dominates the space it occupies. Then, as quickly as it appears, it dissipates, leaving a wake of exhilaration, energy, and intrigue.”
“With this new product, we set out our credentials for the full electrification of our entire product portfolio by 2030. By then, Rolls-Royce will no longer be in the business of producing or selling any internal combustion engine products.”
