Rolls-Royce Black Badge Ghost gets black styling details, uprated W12 mill

MANILA: Rolls-Royce has introduced its new Black Badge Ghost. The luxury sedan features darker exterior and interior colors, a 600ps 6.75-liter W12 engine, and tuned suspension and drivetrain. 

Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös described the auto marque's Black Badge range as wearing a "darker aesthetic, more urgent in personality and dramatic in material treatment."

The Black Badge Ghost "represents a new kind of Black Badge motor car, one that seizes on the minimalist, Post Opulent design treatment," Müller-Ötvös added. 

Rolls-Royce said that its clients are free to select any of the marque’s 44,000 ready-to-wear colors, or create their own entirely unique Bespoke hue. However, the majority of customers who requested this darker expression of Ghost have selected the signature Black. 

Given the demand, the Black Badge Ghost received 45 kilograms of black paint, which is then "atomized" and applied to an electrostatically charged body in white before being oven-dried. The car then receives two layers of clear coat before being hand-polished by a team of four craftsmen to produce the marque’s signature high-gloss piano finish.

Meanwhile, on the brand's Spirit of Ecstasy and Pantheon Grille were applied a specific chrome electrolyte to darken their finish. The final thickness of both pieces measures "around one hundredth of the width of a human hair." Each of these components is polished by hand to achieve a mirror-black chrome finish. 

The Black Badge Ghost is underpinned by a bespoke 21-inch composite wheelset, featuring 44 layers of carbon fiber for greater strength. In the center of the rims are 3D-forged aluminum hubs, which use aerospace-grade titanium fasteners to hold the Double R monograms upright even when the wheels are spinning.

The dark theme continues inside, with the dashboard and door panels finished in black Bolivar veneer and Technical Fiber, while the air vent surrounds on the dashboard and in the rear cabin are darkened. The individual rear seats receive the Black Badge family motif. Giving the cabin color are Turchese Leather seats, and the Rolls-Royce signature Shooting Star Starlight Headliner.

The Black Badge Ghost's twin-turbocharged 6.75-liter V12 engine generates 600ps, or an extra 29ps over the standard engine, and 900Nm of torque, a 50Nm advantage, Rolls-Royce said.

The powertrain has also received Bespoke transmission and throttle treatments to further enhance the engine’s increased power reserves. The ZF eight-speed gearbox and both front- and rear-steered axles work together to adjust the levels of feedback to the driver, depending on throttle and steering inputs.

Photos from Rolls-Royce

Also read: Rolls-Royce honors Black Badge heritage, reflects on commissions from prominent clients