Well respected and at the pinnacle of success yet often perceived as old fashioned, the typical Rolls-Royce customer is hardly regarded as a disruptor. However, over the years, Rolls-Royce has been working to change these notions and introduce the revered British luxury automobile company to a new kind of client, resulting in the formation of Black Badge. Launched in 2016, the Rolls-Royce Black Badge line sees the iconic vehicles take on a darker aesthetic with dramatic colour palettes, technical surface treatments, and sharper driving experiences.
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A response to the times, Rolls-Royce Black Badge was created to draw in “rebellious women and men who built their success by breaking rules, taking risks and challenging conventions” who “reject suits for streetwear, use blockchain not banks and influence the analogue world through their digital endeavours.” Basically, this is not your grandfather’s Rolls-Royce.
Rolls-Royce debuted Black Badge with Wraith and Ghost in 2016, followed by Dawn in 2017 then Cullinan in 2019. Now, the lineup is joined by the latest post opulent expression of Black Badge Ghost, touted as the purest and most technologically advanced Black Badge motor car thus far. An exercise in the pursuit of minimalist and purity, the Rolls-Royce Black Badge Ghost is characterised by reduction that brings about substance.
While the British marque provides a – thoroughly – extensive selection of 44,000 ‘ready-to-wear’ colours as well as the opportunity for clients to create their own bespoke shade, the signature hue for the Rolls-Royce Black Badge Ghost is – you guessed it – Black. Not just any black, the Rolls-Royce hue is the motor car industry’s darkest shade of black, with each car developed utilising a massive 45kg in paint alone, which is atomised and applied to an electrostatically charged body in white before being oven-dried. The car (though it feels somewhat reductive to refer to a Rolls-Royce as just a ‘car’) then receives two layers of clear coat before a team of four craftsmen polish it to high-gloss perfection. The entire process takes between three to five hours.
The dramatically dark exterior provides the ideal base for the ‘black and neon’ aesthetic that has become a signature of the Black Badge editions. Step inside and the Black Badge Ghost has all the creature comforts of a classic Rolls-Royce, albeit with less faff and more edge. Multiple wood layers are incorporated into the interior component surfaces, forming a foundation for the technical fibres that follow; leaves woven from resin-coated carbon and contrasting metal-coated thread laid in a diamond pattern are applied by hand to the components to create a three-dimensional effect. In the rear, the Black Badge motif appears on the lid of the champagne cooler, rendered in aerospace-grade aluminium and applied between several layers of tinted lacquer to create a floating effect.
Not just purely aesthetic, the darker personality extends to the vehicle’s driving experience. Retaining its beautiful passenger experience, the Black Badge Ghost utilises the Rolls-Royce proprietary all-aluminium spaceframe architecture that first appeared in the Phantom, allowing for extreme body stiffness and the implementation of all-wheel drive, four-wheel steering, and a Planar Suspension system. Under the hood, the Rolls-Royce twin-turbocharged 6.75-litre V12 engine remains the same, however, it’s been boosted to generate 592 hp and 664 ft-lb torque, an increase of 29 hp and 37 ft-lb compared to the classic Ghost.
The Rolls-Royce Black Badge Ghost is now available in Australia, with pricing starting at $745,000 AUD.
Words by T. Angel
