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Rolls-Royce Phantom Tempus Collection is inspired by the infinite universe

Rolls-Royce, like NASA, is exploring what's far beyond the stratosphere. It introduced a limited-edition version of the Phantom, its flagship, called the Tempus Collection and inspired by time, astronomical phenomena, and the infinite reaches of the universe. Most of the visual changes are found in the cabin, where interior designers added a mesmerizing headliner that represents a pulsar. If your brain is soaking in Shell Rotella, you're thinking of a Nissan sold on and off since 1978; sorry, but it's not that one, though the British firm's Bespoke department can probably make it happen if your wallet is thick enough. In astronomy, according to Rolls-Royce, a pulsar is a type of white-hot star that lurks about 280 light years away from our planet while emitting electromagnetic radiation in extremely regular pulses, hence the name. Stylists transformed the dashboard into a work of art they call the Frozen Flow of Time. It consists of a single billet of aluminum in which 100 individual columns were milled to represent the 100-million-year period of a pulsar's rotational spin. Rolls-Royce also removed the clock from the dashboard to signal that its customers are free from time and its pesky limitations, though we don't think that's a binding promise the company is making to buyers. If you have a few seconds to spare, you can pop open the glovebox and read a quote from Albert Einstein: "The distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion." Visually, the Tempus wears a relatively subtle look characterized by a new color called Kairos Blue. It was created specifically for the limited-edition model to embody the darkness and the mystery of space, Rolls-Royce explained. It features blue mica flakes that shine like stars in the sky when viewed in the right light. Buyers can customize the Spirit of Ecstasy emblem by engraving a date and location — like their wedding anniversary — on its base. Rolls-Royce will deliver each Tempus with a custom-built champagne chest whose table features a hand-painted pulsar. It's big enough to store and chill champagne, caviar, four flutes, and a mother-of-pearl caviar spoon. The outer-space theme does not continue in the engine bay, so don't expect to find a Rolls-Royce Trent turbofan under the hood. Like the regular-production Phantom, the Tempus is powered by a twin-turbocharged, 6.8-liter V12 engine that effortlessly develops 563 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque.

Rolls-Royce planning one or two new models based on the Ghost

Fourteen years after Volkswagen bought Bentley, its English brand has two distinct lines, Mulsanne and Continental - with numerous variants at the Continental's lower price point - an SUV on the way and perhaps a sports car and a Mulsanne convertible, too. In the 14 years since BMW bought Rolls-Royce, its English brand has the Phantom and Ghost - with three variants at the Phantom's much higher price point. Rolls-Royce doesn't chase sales, but the difference in the brand direction helps explain why Bentley has sold more cars in the first six months of this year than Rolls-Royce sold all of last year.
And even though Rolls-Royce isn't solely about the tally, it would still like to improve on the 3,538 cars it sold last year - a sales record that eclipsed a mark set in 1978. To do so its CEO is planning one or two more Ghost-based models beyond the as-yet-unnamed Ghost Coupe due next year, perhaps to be called the Corniche, according to a report in Autocar. A convertible version of the Ghost Coupe is the obvious guess for one of them, and it would get the double-R "closer to 4,000" sales, where the CEO would like to be.
Sales might not be the only part of it, though; the headline of the Autocar piece says the CEO wants the new models because they're "required to give Rolls-Royce a proper identity." If that is accurate, we have no idea what kind of identity Rolls-Royce could be missing that would be served by a wider range of cars in the Ghost range, which by their place in the brand's own lineup are admittedly not the most opulent carriages on the planet.

Rolls-Royce Spectre electric coupe testing moves to sunny southern France

Rolls-Royce's first series-produced electric model is well on its way to production. Called Spectre, the big coupe is undergoing shakedown testing on and off the track in the sunny south of France, and the British firm announced that development work is about 40% complete. Going electric isn't an excuse for Rolls-Royce to stray from the reputation for excellence that it has earned over the past 116 years, so engineers are putting the Spectre through the most rigorous testing program they've ever subjected a new model to. We're told that, when all is said and done, the prototypes will have covered over 1.5 million miles of testing, which represents on average more than 400 years of use for a Rolls-Royce. Some test mules were sent to freeze in Sweden near the Arctic Circle, while others were shipped to the French Riviera. Testing in France will be split into two parts. First, the Spectre will be put through its paces on the track that Rolls-Royce parent company BMW operates in Miramas, a town located about an hour west of Marseilles. Engineers will notably get the opportunity to drive the prototypes on handling courses, on a 3.1-mile oval with steep banks, and in standing water. when they have passed every challenge with flying colors, the prototypes will be sent out to the picturesque roads that zig-zag through the countryside surrounding the test track. Rolls-Royce explained it's putting a tremendous amount of effort into fine-tuning the Spectre because the coupe packs more technology than any model it has previously released. It features "141,200 sender-receiver relations and has more than 1,000 functions and more than 25,000 sub-functions," according to the company, which is around three times more sender-receiver signals than in a typical Rolls-Royce. The Spectre will inaugurate a new suspension system that promises to take the firm's Magic Carpet Ride to the next level. It relies on technology that scopes out the road ahead and on data sent by the navigation system to decouple the anti-roll bars when needed, such as on a straight road, and recouple them as the car approaches a corner. The suspension system also gets firmer ahead of a bend. Rolls-Royce hasn't released powertrain specifications yet, and the Spectre's final design remains hidden by camouflage, but the few official numbers available are impressive.