Last year, Rolls-Royce teased the Spectre — the luxury British automaker’s first ever vehicle powered by an electric drivetrain. And with it, the end of the marque as we know it. Out with the combustion engine, and in with an electrified future — to be realised across every single vehicle rolling off the conveyor belt in Goodwood, England, by the end of the decade.
It’s been a year since the marque set out to fulfill the promise first made by one of its founders, Charles Roll, back in 1900 (a full four years before he founded the brand). Back then, he said: “The electric car is perfectly noiseless and clean. 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.”
It has been more than a century since then and the Rolls Royce Spectre — a 5.4m-long grand tourer — is almost upon us. And in the usual Rolls-Royce fashion, they aren’t leaving anything to chance before its market launch in Q4 2023.
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