So here comes the new eighth-generation Rolls-Royce Phantom

“Since its debut in 1925, Rolls-Royce Phantom has been the choice of the world’s most influential and powerful men and women. As this next chapter in the Rolls-Royce story opens, the New Phantom points the way forward for the global luxury industry,”

– Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

Rolls-Royce has today officially unveiled the new Phantom, the eighth generation model of the iconic symbol of success, power and wealth.

Underpinning new Rolls Royce Phantom is a new ‘Architecture of Luxury’, an all-aluminium spaceframe architecture designed by Rolls-Royce engineers that will underpin every future Rolls-Royce beginning with the New Phantom. The new platform – significantly lighter yet 30 per cent stronger than before – will underpin the next-generation Ghost, Wraith, Dawn as well as the Cullinan, the brand’s first ever SUV.

Like all models before it, the latest Phantom’s exterior and interior is crafted from the most precious and contemporary of materials. It debuts ‘The Gallery’, a modern and luxury reinterpretation of a motor car’s dashboard and instrument panel area that uses a 12.3-inch digital instrumentation display.

With the latest Phantom, Rolls Royce engineers set out to create the most silent cabin in the world. The incalculable effort include 6mm two layer glazing all around the car, more than 130kg of sound insulation, the largest ever cast aluminium joints in a body-in-white for better sound insulation, and use of high absorption materials.

Acoustic insulation from road noise has been helped by the employment of double skin alloy on areas within the floor and bulkhead of the spaceframe. Further noise insulation by inserting dense foam and felt layers are between these skins to provide sound insulation not witnessed before in the car industry.

Rolls-Royce also worked closely with its tyre supplier to invent ‘Silent-Seal’ tires – which feature a specific foam layer placed inside the tyre to wipe out tyre cavity noise and reduce tyre noise by 9db. Overall, the new Phantom is said to be 10 per cent quieter than its predecessor at 100km/h.

At the heart of the Phantom is a new 6.75-litre twin-turbo V12 engine developing 420kW and 900Nm of torque. Matched with an 8-speed transmission, the 2.5-tonne Phantom sprints from 0 to 100km/h in just 5.3 seconds.

The electronic architecture of the new Phantom is the largest ever in a Rolls Royce model. The central nervous system connects and controls all the various advanced intelligence systems of new Phantom. Some, but not all, assistance systems on-board the Phantom include Alertness Assistant, a 4-camera system with Panoramic View, all-round visibility including helicopter view, Night Vision and Vision Assist, Active Cruise Control, collision warning, pedestrian warning, cross-traffic warning, lane departure and lane change warning, an industry leading 7×3 high-resolution head-up display, WiFi hotspot, and the latest navigation and entertainment systems.

The New Rolls-Royce Phantom was revealed at ‘The Great Eight Phantoms’ exhibition at Bonhams in London’s Mayfair, an exclusive showcase featuring iconic iterations of the first seven generations of Phantom including The Fred Astaire Phantom I, Sir Malcolm Campbell’s Phantom II, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery ‘Butler’ Phantom III, The Aga Khan Phantom IV, The John Lennon Phantom V, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Phantom VI State Limousine and The First Goodwood Phantom – Phantom VII.