Roller coaster

Things haven’t been easy of late for the luxury car market. If you’re struck between a crisis-stricken and environmentally-aware society on the one side, and the new elites of Bitcoin miners and TikTok celebrities on the other, you might have developed some serious doubts as to what luxury really means anymore or indeed what it could be in the future.

It’s these kinds of issues that are turning our world inside-out. In the year 2021, you can buy an Ikea bag from Balenciaga for USD 2,000, get more cachet from wearing an Apple Watch than an Audemars Piguet, and be happy with NOT choosing a steak for dinner. We are living in what Rolls-Royce calls a post-opulent era, and even they have had to adjust.

And for sure this hasn’t been an easy task, as for the last 110 years this rather eccentric company seemed to delight in snubbing its nose at the market norms. To ensure the exclusivity of one of its models, the Phantom IV, the company decided to sell it only to Royal Family members (and one particular Spanish dictator). You might know that for many years Rolls-Royce refused to stoop to publicising the horsepower of its cars, merely referring to it as “sufficient”.

The famous car-maker doggedly managed to stay amazingly aloof from the modern world up until very recently. But then came the launch of its ‘Black Badge’ line, when the company added some new terms to its lexicon, such as ‘engine noise’ and ‘cornering performance’. Later came the Cullinan, the brand’s first SUV. And you should remember that the U in SUV stands for utility – and if there’s one thing that Rolls-Royce was never supposed to be, it was utilitarian.

The new Ghost is the result of finally adjusting to this ridiculous world that everyone else lives in. We’d all like to think that these cars are marketed at doddery old aristocrats, who use them for driving to their castles or for hunting. But the truth is that Rolls-Royce has a surprisingly young and cosmopolitan clientele. The average age of the marque’s customer is actually lower than that of that other iconic British brand, the Mini.

Out with the chauffeur

How people today use their Rolls has also turned out to be something of a surprise. For its makers, the first Ghost, which since it was launched on the market a decade ago has become the bestselling model in the brand’s history, was a leap into the unknown. Now they know that their clients use this 5.4 metre, EUR 250,000 limousine in ways that they had never even dreamt of. A surprising number drive this car themselves (instead of being chauffeured, as the makers expected). Others use the in-house designed Bespoke Audio System to stream music from Spotify via Apple CarPlay, just as the hoi polloi do in their Fords or Škodas.

And so the brand was prompted to listen (to its clients, not Spotify) and thus came up with a radically hi-tech and (by their standards) unprecedentedly modern car. The new Ghost has laser headlights and a set of cameras that scan the road ahead to set the suspension accordingly. All of its four wheels are both steered and powered. And we now know what the horsepower is. It’s a staggering 570 HP, enough to move this 2.5 tonne Victorian mansion on wheels from a standing start to 100 km/h in less than five seconds. Use the steering wheel properly and you get the feeling you’re in more of a driver’s car than any Rolls-Royce before it. And you can see that just by looking at it. It’s remarkably small by the brand’s standards.

Just try not to move your hands around the steering wheel’s leather-stitched grip, as by doing so you’ll make a noise that rips through the serene silence of the interior. It’s still a Rolls-Royce, after all – a painstakingly complicated triumph of engineering and craftsmanship over modesty and rationality.

Outside, you can still be overwhelmed as you take in the majestic proportions of its plain surfaces and that one singular detail – the iconic sculpture of the Spirit of Ecstasy above the Parthenon grille. Inside, you can still luxuriate in a level of plushness that’s best exemplified by the 5 cm thick lambswool floor mats, which your feet sink into all the way up to your ankles.

Turn the engine on and, in true Rolls-Royce fashion, nothing happens. Against current trends (and all odds) this is not because it has an electric motor, but because it has a stupefying 6.75 litre V12 engine that’s unlike anything you can find in any other modern car. There might be more powerful and efficient trains out there, but nothing comes close to the authentic, analogue feel of the mechanical luxury exhibited by this model.

That’s the key to understanding this car. It’s not about whether you go anywhere or not, it’s about what really counts. Of course, the new Ghost could have had digital side mirrors and huge screens plastered all over the dashboard, but instead the organ-stop switches have been retained as well as some brutally simple a/c knobs, which instead of having an actual temperature gauge have to be set at blue or red.

This reminds me of a master butler who does everything for you without giving you any idea of all the effort it took him to get it done. Instead, he just gives you his reassuring “I’ve got this” look. This is what true, timeless luxury looks like. This is the new Ghost.

The 2021 Rolls-Royce Ghost

6.75l V12 twin-turbo petrol engine

570 hp @ 5,000 rpm

850 Nm @ 1,600 rpm

8-speed automatic gearbox

2,490 kg in weight

250 km/h top speed

4.8 0-100 km/h acc. time

EUR 250,000 price (+VAT + local tax)