Gen Rolls-Royce Phantom unveiled

Luxury auto maker Rolls Royce have launched their newest model, the Phantom VIII, in the market. The company has been promoting it as the high sided, all-terrain model.

The grille isn’t the only thing that’s now taller though, as the entire front of the Phantom is now even bigger and more imposing than it already was. Rolls-Royce showed off several examples, including a landscape oil painting by Chinese artist Lian Yangwe. Deliveries are expected early next year.

The new design is an evolution of the last, but is certainly distinctive.

While the visual changes are subtle, there’s an emphasis on aerodynamics that wasn’t present in the outgoing model. According to the company, it allows them to keep the overall weight of the vehicle down making it more fuel efficient and capable of handling demanding road conditions. The new platform is approximately 30 per cent more rigid than the spaceframe architecture of the seventh-generation Phantom.

When you do want information, though, the Rolls-Royce also features a 12.3in TFT screen that eases out of the dashboard, displaying the satnav, media information and more. Large 22-inch wheels complete the look, but as is the case with RR, you can customise every little bit of the exterior accordingly. The four-wheel steering is so improved that it increases agility and stability around corners.

“The Gallery is an innovation that furthers Rolls-Royce’s unparalleled bespoke capabilities”, said the vehicle brand’s CEO Torsten Müller Ötvös. But what makes the dashboard standout is the analogue clock.

Have a look through our gallery below to see the full set of Phantom pictures.

The seats have been heavily revised. The interior details including the angling of the rear seats is to ensure that occupants have effortless seated conversation “without straining their necks”. Inside the new model comes with a centre console that features a drinks cabinet with whiskey glasses, champagne flutes and a coolbox.

The new Phantom is slightly taller and wider than before but is shorter in wheelbase and overall length. A system Rolls-Royce calls Flagbearer adds a stereo camera that can read the road ahead to adjust the air suspension to better cope with road bumps.

Mated to eight-speed automatic transmission, the twin-turbo V12 produces 571hp at 5,000rpm when compared to the older naturally aspirated unit developing 460hp at 5,350rpm.

In terms of the engine, there is no downsizing for the Phantom. Don’t expect an electric motor, or any form of electrification for that matter – at least not yet.

“This realisation was a moment of clarity about the destiny of Rolls-Royce”, reflects Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

The inside – or rather, “The Suite” – of this eighth-gen Phantom is perhaps more exciting; for a start one does not simply get in a Phantom – oh no.

Styling boss, Giles Taylor, has strived for a “yacht-like profile” for the new Phantom, which leans back towards the rear and has lines that run rearwards from the bonnet to give a “more distinctive impression and more majesty”. The auto went of out production this year after a 14-year run.

Sitting at the top of the luxury automotive food chain, Rolls-Royce will sell you a new Phantom from around £350,000. “It is the first of a family to be built on a new all-aluminium platform dubbed the ‘Architecture of Luxury”, and will be followed in 2019 by the brand’s first SUV, now named Project Cullinan.

While Rolls-Royce has been a name in luxury cars and aero engineering since 1904, in its current iteration it is a wholly owned subsidiary of German brand BMW, which acquired the rights to its trademarks in 1998. The latest Phantom has been in development staged for the past six years and will go on sale in 2018.