On Monday 10 October 2022, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars will unveil the story behind the name of its new battery-electric vehicle, Spectre, at Goodwood in West Sussex. This is the first time that the Spectre name has been given to a series production Rolls‑Royce. The name was previously only used for an early demonstrator car and 10 experimental chassis. The historic Spectre models had a profound influence on key Rolls-Royce developments in the 20th century. The use of ethereal names to encapsulate Rolls-Royce's near-silent running is a long-standing tradition.
“The advent of our first battery-electric car marks the start of a bold new era for Rolls-Royce. It is also the culmination of a long, painstaking process, in which every element in creating this landmark car has been considered in the minutest detail, over numerous iterations. But one aspect of this landmark motor car has always been certain: from the very outset, we determined that it would bear the name Spectre – the first series production Rolls-Royce ever to do so. It was a decision initially inspired by our heritage: 'Spectre' cars were always associated with ground-breaking technical innovations, the relentless pursuit of perfection, and a sense of mystery and otherworldliness. The motor car we now present to the world embodies all those qualities, while making the Spectre name entirely its own.”
The decision of what to name a new Rolls-Royce motor car is crucial, highly considered, and takes a great amount of time, taking into account the marque's unique heritage. Of the current product family, all but Cullinan (named after the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever discovered) have names with meanings from Rolls-Royce's past: Phantom, Ghost, Dawn, and Wraith all have namesake's spanning Rolls-Royce's 118-year history.
In naming its first battery-electric vehicle, Rolls-Royce sought to maintain these important 'genetic' links while also signifying a definitive shift into new territory defined by innovation and progress. As the following brief history explains, it found the perfect solution with Spectre.
Why name an inanimate object like a motor car?
The practice is as old as the motor car itself. Before the First World War, road transport was still dominated by horses and horse-drawn vehicles. Those who could afford a Rolls-Royce would likely have kept and used horses themselves, so it would have been natural and logical for them to name their new car like they would have done a favorite steed.
Claude Johnson, the commercial managing director of Rolls-Royce, immediately saw the marketing potential of this fundamental human trait. Between 1905 and 1913, he devised individual names for almost 50 cars the company produced – the most famous of which was 'The Silver Ghost', created for the 1907 London Motor Show. The car's silver paintwork and silver-plated brightwork so impressed motoring journalists and the public are alike that 'Silver Ghost' was adopted as the official model name for all 40/50 H.P. chassis built until 1925, when the New Phantom was introduced.
Johnson would surely be gratified that these ethereal, otherworldly names, intended to capture the car's near-silent running, still grace Rolls-Royce models, referencing this same quality more than a century later.
‘THE SILVER SPECTRE’ (Chasis 1601, 1910)
In August 1910, the company built Chassis 1601, which Johnson used as a trial, or demonstrator, car. Johnson named it ‘The Silver Spectre’ – the first recorded use of the Spectre name in the company's archive.
Chassis 1601 was sold to the War Office in 1915 and its last known whereabouts were at a firm of motor engineers in Sheffield in 1933. Over the course of its lifetime, this car was re-bodied at least three times. This was typical during this period, often to suit the new owner's tastes if the car had changed hands, and sometimes for more prosaic reasons: early coachwork employed materials and methods that, while perfectly suited to horse-drawn vehicles doing 10mph, quickly succumbed to the strains of traveling at 50mph or more in automotive use. While the eventual fate of Chassis 1601 remains somewhat unclear, one thing is certain: no Rolls-Royce would bear the Spectre name again for over 20 years.
The 'SPECTRE' experimental cars (1934-7)
Early on in its history, Rolls-Royce implemented a system of special names for its experimental cars, designating them with tantalizing 'EX' suffixes on their chassis numbers. Beginning with 1EX in 1919, these 'large-horsepower' development models went through extensive test runs of up to 15,000 miles, often covering 800 miles a day on the harsh roads of France. They also racked up thousands of extra miles in busy London traffic and through the British countryside. The EX designation is still used today, with the latest example being the 103EX electric vision vehicle, unveiled in 2016.
In 1930, Sir Henry Royce started developing a brand-new V12 engine for a novel chassis with independent front suspension. However, he passed away in 1933 before he could see the project to completion. The new car, the 30EX, finally underwent road testing in November 1934.
As it is with all innovations, it was critical to maintain secrecy surrounding the new V12 engine-- for commercial purposes. Therefore, in addition to its chassis number, 30EX was also given a codename: ‘Spectre’. Nine more EX cars with the ‘Spectre’ codename would follow before the car went into production as Phantom III in 1936. Of these development chassis, seven would later be turned over for sale to private customers who, presumably, never knew of their vehicle's previous undercover operations. The testing and refinement done using these ‘Spectre’ cars is what allowed Phantom III to uphold the marque's reputation-- first established by Silver Ghost in 1907-- as “The best car in the world.”
The ROLLS-ROYCE SPECTRE (2023-)
Represents a momentous shift in technology and philosophy for Rolls-Royce, as the first all-electric car made by the company. This change in the powertrain is arguably even more significant than when Rolls-Royce introduced their first V12 engine almost 80 years ago – an engine configuration that is still used in every current Rolls-Royce model.
The Spectre name itself is evocative of silence, refinement, and mystery; of something that is imagined and dreamlike, existing outside of normal parameters and experience. And while it has been given to individual and experimental cars in the past, no series-production Rolls-Royce has worn the Spectre nameplate until now. This combination of innovation and continuity makes Spectre the perfect name for a car of such singular and historic importance.
"There is a pleasing symmetry between the Spectres of the past and the present-day incarnation," says Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. "In our history, Spectre is a name synonymous with technical innovation and development, and Rolls-Royce motor cars that go on to change the world. Though separated by almost a century, both the Spectres of the 1930s and our own today are the proving grounds for propulsion technology that will shape our products and clients' experiences for decades to come."
