Rolls-Royce reveals one-off Spectre Semaphore

ROLLS-ROYCE is appealing to a “youthful client base” with its one-of-one Spectre Semaphore, which is set to be displayed this month at The Quail, A Motorsport Gathering – one of the many exclusive events that make up Monterey Car Week in California.

This one-off Spectre is named after the Semaphore yellow hue that adorns its muscular body, extending to the interior with lemon yellow accents and upholstery, a colour Rolls-Royce says represents sunny California.

The bonnet resembles a take on the dramatic visual treatment ultra-rich social media stars apply to their supercars, gold-plating being an example of the styling opulence seen ‘online’, but the 120-year-old British marque has done so with elegance in mind.

That ‘Marble Paint Spill’ bonnet, Rolls-Royce says, took 160 hours to develop and involved various layers of lacquer and clearcoat. Apparently, it is supposed to resemble the informal elegance of Coastal California, from the sunshine to the silver-capped mountain tops, but to the less discerning onlooker it may resemble an oil slick...

In any case, the Semaphore is likely aiming to appeal to an incoming generation of Rolls-Royce buyers that prefer their luxury cars served with (or doused in) a little more flair than the discrete, gentlemanly models of old.

Other features include a glossy painted cashmere wood set, bespoke digital instrument dials, and the same constellation-themed details the standard Spectre gets, like starlight doors.

It was only three years ago that Rolls-Royce chief executive, Torsten Muller-Otvos, announced the rollout of an electric range before 2030, and the Spectre signals a strong start for the marque as it prepares to bench petrol engines altogether.

Rolls-Royce did experiment with electric powertrains in the 2010s, first with the 102EX Phantom ‘Experimental Electric’ model, and then the radical 103EX later that decade, but both were one-off prototypes.

While Rolls-Royce, a carmaker known for its brutish big-bore V12 engines and high horsepower approach to propulsion, seems like an unwilling candidate for range-wide electrification, the company’s fascination with silent powertrains dates back more than a century.

Founding father of the luxurious marque, Henry Royce, was an electrical engineer by trade and set out to create the quietest, most vibration-free engines possible, mimicking what is now possible from electric motors.

In fact, in 1906 Mr Royce even declared, after driving an electric car called the Colombia, that “the electric car is perfectly noiseless and clean”.

He went on to prophetically suggest, “they should become very useful when fixed charging stations can be arranged.” And ‘arranged’ they are, some 120 years on, as the world’s most luxurious carmaker ushers in its first all-electric model.

In many ways then, the Spectre is an ode to the ‘car of the future’ its founding father envisioned. The Semaphore, though, steps further into the future as a bold exclamation of the brand’s willingness to move with the times as its customer base evolves.

The Semaphore is not confirmed for any appearances in Australia, but the Spectre has landed Down Under and is available to order, for the entirely reasonable price of $770,000 plus on-road costs.