Developed to be a Rolls-Royce first and an electric car second, Spectre has made its North American debut this week at The Quail, A Motorsport Gathering. Dressed to impress in an eye-catching Morganite paint with black accents, Goodwood’s first foray into the EV segment looks massive because it is. At 5453 millimeters (214.6 inches) long and 2080 millimeters (81.8 inches) wide, it’s even bigger than the new BMW 7 Series.
With 23-inch wheels and an enormous wheelbase of 3210 millimeters (126.3 inches), the Rolls-Royce Spectre has a commanding presence. It’s also the BMW Group’s heaviest non-armored production car as it tips the scales at a whopping 2,975 kilograms (6,558 pounds). That’s nearly 300 kilograms (660 pounds) more than the controversial BMW XM plug-in hybrid SUV.
The car RR decided to bring to The Quail has a few special features such as the seven-spoke partially polished wheels, an illuminated fascia with 5,500 stars, and Starlight Doors encompassing 4,976 stars lighting up the interior. Speaking of which, this Spectre has a Cashmere cabin with Obsidian Ayous wood and Scivaro Grey accents.
The two-door, four-seat Spectre is billed as being the “world’s first ultra-luxury electric super coupe” and serves as a spiritual successor to the Phantom Coupe rather than the recently discontinued Wraith. It rides on the all-aluminum Architecture of Luxury platform instead of BMW’s CLAR architecture and comes exclusively with all-wheel drive by having an electric motor powering each axle.
The dual-motor setup is good for 577 horsepower and a massive 900 Newton-meters (662 pound-feet), enabling the Rolls-Royce of EVs to hit 62 mph (100 km/h) in only four and a half seconds despite its massive heft. Its massive battery pack has a usable capacity of 102 kWh and doubles as nearly 700 kilograms (1,543 pounds) of sound deadening. On a full charge, it’s estimated to have enough juice for 320 miles (520 kilometers) in the WLTP cycle.
The first Spectre deliveries are scheduled to commence in the final quarter of 2024. Despite carrying an exorbitant starting price of $420,000, the production run is already fully booked for 2024. In other words, newly placed orders for the lavish electric coupe won’t be fulfilled until 2025 at the earliest.
