Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Phantom VIII Heralds Arrival Of The House Of Rolls-Royce



RRMC Phantom VIII arrived today. The hood is an unbroken expanse of gently curving alloy, free of the obligatory spear of brightwork running down the centerline. For the first time, Phantom’s Parthenon grille is integrated into the surrounding bodywork, no longer appearing like an appliqué simulating designs of the 1920s and ‘30s. It is a modern, clean interpretation of a classic form.

Phantom VIII’s introduction is Rolls-Royce Motor Cars’ second graceful pivot toward becoming a luxury goods design house specializing in cars, The House of Rolls-Royce. The first step was development of Bespoke Studios, a formalized business unit populated with artists and craftsmen who can conceive and execute interiors and exterior finishes like none other, a 21st Century update of Classic-era custom coachwork firms.



RRMC Phantom VIII's 'Gallery' has no precedent. Acting as a counterpoint between digital design, additive manufacturing and hand-craftsmanship, artist Thorsten Franck’s work is a progressive depiction of an owner’s unique DNA, milled in stainless steel then plated in 24-carat gold.

Phantom VIII carries the process farther, not only because the car’s interior structure incorporates lessons-learned, making customization easier than on Phantom VII, but because of the “Gallery,” a glassed-in display case in the passenger-side and central dash where patrons can place commissioned fine art. In both aesthetics and safety engineering, the Gallery is unprecedented, bringing further support to CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös’ promise that each Rolls-Royce patron can create his own masterpiece.



RRMC Interior of Phantom VIII, with artwork placed within the dashboard 'Gallery.' Safety and structural engineers groaned, but in time developed the Gallery. Formed in safety glass, the Gallery’s outer panel will burst into harmless little cubes in a collision. In its clarity, it matches museum glass, with virtually no reflections, even when viewed from the driver’s seat.

Rolls-Royce engaged fine artists to illustrate possibilities. Thorsten Franck 3D-printed a gold-plated rendering of a customer’s DNA sequence. Nymphenburg Porcelain of Bavaria created an arrangement of white porcelain roses modeled after the unique strain Harkness Roses bred to celebrate arrival of Phantom VIII. Liang Yuanwei painted scenes of the South Downs of England.



RRMC Character lines emanating from the ends of the license plate surround simply “wash out,” disappearing near the top of the trunk lid. Similar such lines occur along the broad and tall expanse of the door panels. A subtle, artistic detail rarely found on other vehicles. Swept C-pillars are a quote from 1950s James Young Silver Cloud. Phantom has a magnificent ass.

In a Hollywood studio about a month ago, CEO Müller-Ötvös, his lead product planner Christian Wettach, and Rolls’ rising star designer, Alex Innes, provided me an early morning private walkaround of the two cars seen here. Phantom VIII introduces a scalable alloy spaceframe architecture that will serve exclusively in future Rolls-Royces. No other brands within the BMW Group will employ it. A Rolls-Royce is and always will be a Rolls-Royce.



RRMC Extended wheelbase Phantom, finished in Belladonna, a shade of deep purple. Note sculpting of fendercrests, firm definition of the hood. Touching these carefully sculpted shapes is irresistible.

Sketched by Rolls design boss Giles Taylor and his young protégé Innes, Phantom VIII is the most graceful big Roller since the James Young Silver Clouds of the 1950s. The sweeping rear roofline draws inspiration from those James Young cars, the flowing C-pillar masking the considerable height of the rear roof and door frames, and large trunk. This is an enormous vehicle, bumper-to-bumper three inches longer than a Chevy Suburban, a monumental sculpture.



RRMC Phantom VIII rear seat.

Even with a hat on, tall men can lean backwards into the door opening to land softly in the rear seat without fear of striking their heads on the doorframe, unlike lesser mass-luxury vehicles that demand unseemly yoga moves to enter. If the driver is a burly chap, he will find the massively proportioned front seats supportive and roomy. For the man at the helm, there’s no shortage of head, elbow, shoulder and foot room. These are the finest, most comfortable chairs in any car on the road.



RRMC Extended wheelbase Phantom finished in Belladonna, with white leather interior.

Wide, deep and square-sided, the trunk can accommodate the luggage and gear of a family on a week-long trip. And specific to the Middle East, where a driver might take refuge in the trunk while his Master is at meetings, a tall man can easily lay down for a nap protected from the elements.



RRMC To maintain Rolls “golden” proportions, Phantom VIII rides on 22-in wheels. The Continental tires are an engineering marvel, capable of managing Phantom’s three-ton girth and significant performance potential. The Conti’s are also fitted with foam insulation INSIDE to quell tire sounds. In my experience, a Rolls is the only luxury car that can wear 21-in. wheels or larger and maintain a plush, flawless ride, a gift of double-wishbone front and five-link rear suspension with air springing.

Phantom’s 6.75-liter twin-turbo V12 follows basic precepts of the Phantom VII engine, but virtually every component is new. The engine produces 664 lb-ft of torque (900 Newton-meters) at 1700 rpm. The 8-speed ZF gearbox retains satellite-linked intelligence, which reads GPS data about the road ahead then preloads shift sequences for upcoming corners.



RRMC Iridescent feathers are arranged on a 3D printed piece that simulates the musculature of a natural wing, filling the Gallery. By Nature Squared.

For a car that will readily top three tons with driver and passenger, its sprint to 60 mph in 5.3 seconds greatly impresses. Across open terrain, I’m sure this car will cruise happily at 120 mph or more, giving testimony not only to the powertrain, but the careful engineering of the 22-in. Continental tires.



RRMC Gauges are not “real,” not mechanical. They are digitally rendered, yet one inspects them multiple times before that reality sinks in.

Further prelude to autonomy, the windshield incorporates a stereo camera system to scan road surfaces ahead, automatically adjusting suspension damping below 60 mph to absorb bumps and ripples, enhancing the “magic carpet ride” in city traffic.



RRMC Wood panel and unique clockface in Gallery of the extended wheelbase car finished in Belladonna.

As you’d expect for a car this size, it has cameras and sensors all around, and a selection of perspectives on the big TFT screen to help with parking maneuvers. Though they look like classic round white-on-black gauges from the 1950s, the primary gauges are in fact digital, so tightly rendered it takes a second or even third look to realize they’re merely light on a screen.



RRMC Rolls CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös rates as quite the dude. Once you’ve met him, it’s hard to think of Rolls-Royce without him. He’s crisp and formal, yet get him away from venues requiring the personal performing art of a CEO and he’s playful, as he wants Rolls to be perceived. Note laser headlights.

Both Müller-Ötvös and Wettach were adamant that when I drive Phantom VIII, its dynamics will impress, the car “growing smaller” and more wieldy as the miles rack up.



RRMC Rear-seat decanter of Rolls Phantom VIII.

The next and currently impossible step in the evolution of The House of Rolls-Royce will be architecture that allows creation of one-off body panels while still meeting safety standards. So long as we have heavy gasoline engines that dictate how front crash structures are engineered, custom modification of bodywork will be limited and expensive. But Rolls-Royce has its 103EX concept vehicle serving as a light house, guiding them to a future evolution in battery electric propulsion and autonomous driving, a time when Rolls will be completely free to develop one-off bodywork.



RRMC Nymphenburg porcelain captures the beauty of a Harkness English rose bred especially for the launch of Phantom. For nearly 300 years, Nymphenburg artisans have created porcelain sculptures of both delicate and monumental scale.

Sexy and erotic are terms one normally reserves for supercars and hypercars, but Phantom VIII is such an impressive symbol of power and elegance that it too justifies such description. If a high-dollar remake of the 1970s French erotic film “The Story of O” is ever produced, surely Sir Stephen will be driven about Paris in an extended wheelbase Phantom VIII, Duchess straps hinged in the back and the Gallery featuring iridescent feathers, or perhaps the perfected shapes of Nymphenburg Harkness roses. Phantom VIII projects silken power.



RRMC Iridescent feathers.



RRMC A starburst of silver spears tipped with pear-shaped amethyst gems emanates from a brilliant-cut diamond on a purple background enriched by a guilloche effect. Designer-Goldsmith Richard Fox has embellished the interiors of numerous Rolls-Royces.



RRMC Silk appliqué creates what might seem like a landscape but in fact represents the flowing silk across the arms of the Spirit of Ecstasy. Artist Helen Amy Murray draws inspiration from the illustrations of Charles Sykes, the sculptor who created Rolls-Royce’s Spirit of Ecstasy.



RRMC Prior to Phantom’s launch, Liang Yuanwei spent time in the West Sussex countryside, capturing the natural beauty around the Goodwood home of Rolls-Royce.