British luxury car manufacturer Rolls-Royce has revealed details of its first fully-electric car, named Spectre. The firm has announced that on-road testing for the model is “imminent,” with the finished product due to enter the market in the first quarter of 2023.
“I am proud to announce that Rolls-Royce is to begin the on-road testing program for an extraordinary new product that will elevate the global all-electric car revolution and create the first – and finest – super-luxury product of its type. This is not a prototype. It’s the real thing,” commented chief executive officer Torsten Müller-Ötvös.
Spectre is the latest in a series of Rolls-Royce’s earlier experiments with electric cars, including the 102EX electric Phantom revealed in 2011 and the electric 103EX in 2016. The development of the fully-electric Rolls-Royce Spectre confirms the brand’s dedication to fully electrifying it’s entire portfolio by 2030.
According to Müller-Ötvös, Spectre is in fact the realisation of early ideas from Rolls-Royce founder Charles Rolls, who first considered the success of electric engines in 1900 after declaring an early electric motor car named the Columbia “perfectly noiseless and clean.”
Details of the model remain elusive but the brand has revealed that the car uses Rolls-Royce’s own spaceframe architecture. New images offer a first glimpse of other details such as large aeroblade wheels and suicide doors.
Spectre is now set to undergo what Müller-Ötvös has described as “the most demanding testing programme in Rolls-Royce’s history.”
“We will cover 2.5 million kilometres – a simulation of more than 400 years of use for a Rolls-Royce, on average – and we will travel to all four corners of the world to push this new motor car to the limit […] They will be tested in all conditions and over all terrains on their multi-million-mile journey,” detailed Müller-Ötvös.
The chief executive also noted that potential buyers should keep an eye out for the models on the road during this next phase: “You will see these test cars on roads, around the world. Look out for them – they will be in plain sight.”