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2018 Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII First Look | It's all new, we swear!

At a well-decorated warehouse just off Hollywood's Sunset Blvd., a gaggle of PR, design, operations, and executives from Rolls-Royce Motor Cars are stoking our excitement for the all-new, 2018 Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII. Along with the normal Rolls-Roycey words like "heritage," "brand," and "bespoke," was a repeated phrase. A phrase that shouldn't be necessary. A phrase eliciting a concept that should be obvious if true. The new car, it said, was "not an evolution" on the current Phantom. That, friends, is exciting to hear. Don't get us wrong, we like the train-engine-bolted-to-a-horseless-carriage look, and the beast's scale and presence on the street. Trouble is, since the car first took to unsmoothing our air with its cathedral-facade front end in 2003, the looks have gotten a little, um, tired. Blame the mercilessness of time. Blame the success of the car, which means they're on every street corner in west Los Angeles. Blame the "imitation-is-the-most-sincere-form-of-flattery" Chrysler 300. Blame the fact that this car's magnetism vaults it into the public eye more frequently than a Kardashian. Whatever the cause, fact is, the Phantom needs a reboot. A subtle evolution a la the last Bentley Continental won't do. The lights are out. We're led through a darkened antechamber into the full-dark of the warehouse. We can see the shape. It's big and has the classic squared off D-pillar. The front, too, has the required grille bigness. It is enviously long. Let's pause. Here at Autoblog, we're known for giving people advice. We take that responsibility seriously, because the results of our evaluations and expertise are often the reason someone has dropped thousands of dollars on a car they're going to live with for many years. We try to keep it on cars and to not to get too preachy on the life coaching. We're going to break that convention now. Here's a life pro tip: The more frequently that someone in a position of power repeats a claim, the more likely it is that that claim is false. The lights click on. The men and women of Rolls-Royce, for whom this project is a true honor, clap in genuine appreciation and reverence for what they've been a part of. And the journalists in the room turn to each other and mouth, "Wait, is this the new one?" If you're casually familiar with the current-gen Phantom, based on seeing them pull into the club as you wait in line, then this new one will likely register as just another Phantom when it hits the streets early next year.

Rolls-Royce Spectre EV is revealed, and it's production-bound

Rolls-Royce has formally announced plans to introduce a battery-electric coupe. Dubbed Spectre, the British super-luxe automaker's first EV will begin deliveries in late 2023, which has now become a key milestone in Rolls-Royce's roadmap to full electrification by the end of the decade. Apart from the name and layout, Rolls is being stingy with specifics, telling us only that, despite what appears to be a somewhat familiar silhouette, this is an all-new model built on the company's latest architecture, like Phantom, Ghost and Cullinan. Spectre is not merely a derivative of the Wraith, RR says. And with good reason, because Wraith was engineered around the essence of its V12. Spectre's character, we expect, will be defined by its near-silent, vibration-free electric powertrain, which makes for a very different acoustic backdrop, but that's a challenge Rolls-Royce engineers are prepared – arguably even predestined – to overcome. Even more than a century ago, both Charles Rolls and Sir Henry Royce were fascinated by electric powertrains. The automaker even shared some of Rolls' impressions of an EV he drove in April 1900 from Connecticut-based manufacturer Columbia:  "The electric car is perfectly noiseless and clean," he noted. "There is no smell or vibration, and they should become very useful when fixed charging stations can be arranged. But for now, I do not anticipate that they will be very serviceable – at least for many years to come." View 9 Photos "Today, 117 years later, I am proud to announce that Rolls-Royce is to begin the on-road testing programme 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," said Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Muller-Otvos.  "Charles RollsÂ’ prophecy has been the subject of constant consideration during the marqueÂ’s Goodwood era," he said. "But we have not been satisfied that available technology could support the Rolls-Royce experience. Until now." If there's any coherent theme to the message coming from Rolls-Royce, it's that the company intends to do right by its first EV. To that end,it  says it will develop Spectre "in plain sight," holding it to some of the most stringent development requirements of any vehicle that has carried the Spirit of Ecstasy.  "To do this, we have conceived the most demanding testing programme in Rolls-RoyceÂ’s history.

Rolls-Royce Black Badge Cullinan 'Blue Shadow' straddles Earth and space

Rolls-Royce has another special edition for stargazing types who might not have the schedules to stay up all night stargazing. Called the Rolls-Royce Black Badge Cullinan "Blue Shadow" Private Collection, its design honors the nebulous area where Earth's atmosphere ends and so-called "outer space" begins. Since the edges of our planetary terrarium blend into space, there's no useful coloring-book-like boundary. The International Aeronautics Federation uses an arbitrary height called the Karman line, which Hungarian engineer and physicist Theodore von Karman decided would be 100 kilometers above Earth because that's around where the last traces of aerodynamic lift petered out, giving way to "astronautics." The Cullinan Blue Shadow is a canvas for artistic representation of the Karman line and what lies beyond. The deep blue exterior color signifies the atmosphere's upper layers where the blackness of space suffuses the blue of our daytime skies. Contrasting satin jewelry in the front fascia suggests the silica and aluminum oxide whitewash applied to the thermal protection tiles on craft like NASA's Space Shuttle. The Spirit of Ecstasy was produced in 3D-printed titanium coated in a blue-tinted lacquer, the base inscribed with "Blue Shadow Private Collection." The Cullinan's 22-inch wheels are also dressed in a lacquer layer for dark translucence. Inside, the starlight headliner's been decorated with an embroidered moon composed of five colors, each color sewn in with a different technique and texture. The headliner's 799 white LEDs and 384 blue LEDs create a field of stars for Luna, Rolls-Royce engineers tweaking the twinkling effect in the LEDs "for an even more enchanting glow." The painted instrument panel and door cards transition from black up high to dark and then light blue below. Six layers of colors combine five blues with a black, providing another kind of twinkle thanks to blue and clear glass particles in the clearcoat. The Private Collection clock comes with blue anodized details and an engraved "Blue Shadow." The artwork created in the seats is a first for Rolls-Royce. Each seat's been perforated more than 75,000 times in a pattern representing the Earth as seen from space.