- Rolls-Royce celebrates places and moments that influenced
Phantom’s evolution - A 100-year odyssey, taking in Côte d’Azur, London, Sussex and the
Australian Outback - Highlights key people and landmarks in Phantom’s technical growth
“Phantom has at all times been outlined by the individuals who fee it,
and the locations during which they use it. As an exemplar of excellence,
Phantom has inhabited and been influenced by places worldwide,
from the glamorous Côte d’Azur to the peaceable Sussex countryside,
and from the bustling coronary heart of London to the huge wilderness of the
Australian Outback. Every stage on this 100-year odyssey has formed
Phantom’s character and helped safe its place in cultural historical past.
As we mark Phantom’s centenary, we mirror on a number of the most
vital locations, occasions and people who have made our pinnacle
motor automotive every part it’s right this moment, and knowledgeable a brand new and
extraordinary Bespoke creation quickly to be revealed.”
Chris Brownridge, Chief Govt, Rolls-Royce Motor Automobiles
The story of Phantom spans 100 years, and the complete
world. At present, Phantom house owners may be present in over 100 international locations on six
continents, with every particular person motor automotive commissioned to fulfill
each its proprietor’s preferences and codes of luxurious, and the precise
situations and environment during which it operates.
Rolls-Royce Motor Automobiles displays on a number of the key places,
moments and people who have formed Phantom’s growth and
philosophy from its launch in 1925 to the current day.
LE RAYOL-CANADEL-SUR-MER: ENGINEERING AN ICON
From 1911 till his demise in 1933, Sir Henry Royce
spent the winter months within the South of France, at a secluded retreat
on the Côte d’Azur. He initially stayed at Claude Johnson’s villa,
till Villa Mimosa was accomplished in 1917; Royce used this location to
take a look at and refine many Rolls-Royces, together with the primary motor automotive to
bear the Phantom nameplate.
The mixture of high-speed cruising from England to France
and the Riviera’s sweeping, cinematic corniches offered the last word
surroundings for evaluation and enchancment. From Villa Mimosa, Royce
obsessively refined Phantom to ship an expertise as singular then
as it’s right this moment: the easy command of immense energy.
The affect of Sir Henry’s winter residence is enshrined in
fashionable supplies utilized by the marque, together with Canadel inside wooden
panelling, and Duality Twill bamboo cloth impressed by the intensive
groves in Le Jardin des Méditerranées, which adjoins Villa Mimosa.
WEST WITTERING: THE QUIET PURSUIT OF PERFECTION
Within the hotter months, Sir Henry returned from France
to Elmstead, his beloved dwelling within the village of West Wittering on the
Sussex coast. Simply eight miles from the present-day House of
Rolls-Royce, Elmstead stays a spot of pilgrimage for lovers,
offering a private and emotional connection to one of many founders
that resonates all through the corporate right this moment.
As he had performed at Villa Mimosa, Royce arrange a separate studio
close by for his group of designers and engineers. Though the
Rolls-Royce manufacturing unit was midway throughout the nation in Derby, Royce
nonetheless insisted on signing off each new part personally, so motor
automobiles arrived virtually each day to be inspected, adjusted and accredited
earlier than returning. Every journey was a spherical journey of over 400 miles, and
a few of these identical roads are nonetheless utilized by the marque’s take a look at and
growth specialists to this present day.
Alongside Elmstead, Royce acquired 60 acres of land, the place he
devoted himself to agriculture and horticulture with attribute
zeal and virtually obsessive consideration to element; qualities that prolonged
even to his spare time activities. A talented engineering draughtsman, Royce
additionally grew to become a extremely completed watercolourist. His beautiful
research of scenes in West Wittering and Le Canadel nonetheless present
inspiration for Rolls-Royce designers searching for to immerse themselves in
his world.
LONDON: A CENTURY OF INFLUENCE
For all its world attain, London stays Phantom’s
non secular dwelling. For a lot of the 20th century, Rolls-Royce was
primarily based at 14-15 Conduit Road, close to Savile Row in London’s trendy
Mayfair, the place Charles Rolls had established considered one of Britain’s first
automotive showrooms in 1905. Right here, Rolls carried out demonstration drives of
early motor automobiles and met shoppers from London’s social elite. The
constructing’s position in automotive historical past was commemorated by English
Heritage in 2010 with a Blue Plaque, unveiled by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu.
London additionally performed a pivotal position in Phantom’s renaissance. In
the late Nineteen Nineties, the marque’s designers established a secret studio in
a former financial institution constructing on the north aspect of Hyde Park. In what was
recognized merely as ‘The Financial institution’, a handpicked group, led by Chief Designer
Ian Cameron, labored on a secret venture codenamed RR01.
Cameron and his group’s temporary was easy, however enormously
formidable: to create a brand new Rolls-Royce from a clean sheet of paper.
They got solely three stipulations: the automotive ought to have very
giant wheels, the well-known Pantheon Grille and, after all, the Spirit of
Ecstasy mascot.
Chief Exterior Designer Marek Djordjevic turned to designs from
the previous for inspiration. A coachbuilt Phantom II from the early Nineteen Thirties
would show probably the most influential, offering the design components that
nonetheless inform each Goodwood-era Rolls-Royce – most notably the well-known
‘waft line’, rising from rear to entrance alongside the decrease fringe of the
physique, paying homage to a motor yacht at velocity.
AUSTRALIA: A NEW ERA BEGINS
The primary Goodwood Phantom made its world debut on 1
January 2003, the place it was handed over to its new proprietor at precisely
00:01. The delighted shopper wished to immerse themselves on this grand
and modern expression of the marque, and so started a 4,500-mile
journey from Perth throughout the Australian continent. It was an
audacious assertion – and a daring demonstration that Phantom had not
solely returned, however was able to outline a brand new period of world luxurious
journey. In a becoming full-circle second, that exact same Phantom
returned to the House of Rolls-Royce in August 2025 – Phantom’s
centenary 12 months – to endure an in depth inspection by the marque’s engineers.
102EX: AN ELECTRIC VISION
Following Phantom’s extremely profitable market
introduction, engineers inside Rolls-Royce started fascinated by the
marque’s longer-term future. Reflecting the Rolls-Royce’s visionary
spirit, a small group thought-about a variety of powertrains that may
be appropriate for the model’s electrical future and amplify the qualities
shoppers celebrated about their Rolls-Royce.
In 2011, Rolls-Royce revealed 102EX, also referred to as the Phantom
Experimental Electrical (EE): a completely electrical Phantom. Although by no means
supposed for manufacturing, this experimental motor automotive provided the primary
glimpse of how the model would possibly harness battery-electric expertise to
elevate the broader Rolls-Royce expertise. It marked the start of a
daring electrical journey – one that may carry the marque into the
current day, and past.
THE FUTURE OF PHANTOM, TOLD THROUGH ITS LEGACY
Phantom’s outstanding historical past stays a relentless supply of
inspiration inside Rolls-Royce. The centenary 12 months of this nameplate,
celebrated in 2025, gives a becoming second to honour the people
and concepts which have formed Phantom’s first 100 years. From
world-renowned artists to musical pioneers, Phantom has been chosen by
those that actually form our world. It has served monarchs, statesmen and
captains of business – and, above all, stays a tribute to the imaginative and prescient
of the marque’s founders, Charles Rolls and Sir Henry Royce.
Throughout generations, Phantom has revealed its distinctive breadth and
brilliance – as a studio, stage, state room and gallery. These tales
will quickly be introduced collectively in a landmark Bespoke motor automotive that
captures Phantom’s singular legacy, honours a rare
milestone, and represents the continuation of one of the
illustrious journeys in automotive historical past.
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Rolls-Royce I Phantom Returns House.
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