Rolls-Royce will soon begin on-road testing of its first all-electric production car, the Spectre, ahead of a market launch in the fourth quarter of 2023. By then, prototypes will have covered 150 million miles in a range of conditions, which Rolls-Royce equates to a simulated 400 years of use.
The Goodwood firm’s CEO, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, is adamant that the prototype previewed earlier this summer is a faithful representation of the production car. This means the Spectre will be a swept-back two-door grand tourer with a characteristically long bonnet and muscular proportions – characteristics that line it up as a viable replacement for the Wraith, which first went on sale in 2013.
Rolls-Royce has yet to confirm plans to end production of the Wraith, but it withdrew both the hard-top version and its Dawn soft-top sibling from sale in the US this year, suggesting a wind-down is imminent.
Notably, the Wraith and Dawn are the only models in the Rolls-Royce line-up to still use a platform developed entirely by parent company BMW – derived from the F01-generation 5 Series, which arrived in 2008. The larger Phantom, Ghost and Cullinan now use Rolls-Royce’s own Architecture of Luxury platform, which can house a pure-electric drivetrain and will eventually underpin every Rolls-Royce model.
The luxury brand first previewed its approach to electrification with 2011’s Phantom-based 102EX concept, which was devised chiefly to determine the viability of EV power as a replacement for its large-capacity petrol engines.
The subtle visual differences between that one-off and its production counterpart hint at an evolutionary approach to design in Rolls-Royce’s electric era. Müller-Ötvös has strongly hinted to Autocar that even the firm’s trademark imposing front grille will survive in some form, despite there being no petrol engine to cool.
The Spectre will also retain the Wraith’s distinctive reverse-opening doors, and there is as yet no indication that it will ride significantly higher than its petrol-powered predecessor. That would allow it to viably maintain its luxury coupé billing and therefore sit largely unrivalled in its segment from launch.
The unveiling of the much more radically styled 103EX concept in 2016 gave clues as to the direction of Rolls-Royce’s EV design plans, and although the Spectre adopts a more conventional silhouette, with more production-friendly design cues, the link is clear.
The flexibility of the Architecture of Luxury means Rolls-Royce could continue to offer combustion options in the Wraith successor. The long bonnet of the prototype suggests there would be room for the twin-turbo 6.75-litre V12 that features in all other models based on this platform.