Rolls-Royce has detailed the extensive chassis developments for its next-generation Ghost luxury saloon, including the use of four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering.
The second-generation Ghost - set to be unveiled in the coming weeks - will follow the latest Phantom in featuring a system that steers the rear wheels as well as the fronts. It will depart from its bigger brother, however, by shunning rear-wheel drive for four driven wheels.
Rolls-Royce has also detailed a new suspension technology making its debut on the Ghost. Called the Planar system, it features what the firm describes as a "world-first technology" in the form of an upper wishbone damper unit mounted above the front suspension assembly for "an even more stable and effortless ride". The system has taken three years to develop.
There's also the Flagbearer system, which uses cameras to read the road ahead and prepare the suspension, and Satellite Aided Transmission, which uses GPS data to preselect the optimum gear for a corner.
The new Ghost switches to the latest version of the Rolls-Royce aluminimum platform used by the Phantom and Cullinan SUV, and company boss Torsten Müller-Otvös noted the only components carried over from the successful original were the Spirit of Ecstasy figurehead and umbrellas.
That aluminium spaceframe is said to "accommodate significant advances in Rolls-Royce’s hallmark magic carpet ride and dynamic abilities".
New Ghost engineering lead Jonathan Simms elaborated: “Ghost clients told us that it’s the car in their collection that they’re drawn to the most. They love its uncomplicated versatility. It’s not trying to be a sports car, it’s not trying to be a grand statement; it’s simply exceptional and exceptionally simple.
"When it came to creating a new Ghost – one that outshines its incredibly capable predecessor – the engineering team had to start from scratch. We pushed our architecture even further and created a car even more dynamic, even more luxurious and, most of all, even more effortlessly usable.”
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jason_recliner
Great News
Should look less like something Toad of Toad Hall drives, then.
beechie
Toad's car
Nickktod
Poop poop...
Quite apart from the over-complication issue, is there also an argument that an S Class or a Range Rover is actually a more luxurious experience most of the time by virtue of being less ostentatious? i.e. 95% of the luxury and refinement without all the gawping? I've had some interesting wheels in the past (though never to the level of a Rolls) and after a while worrying about where to park and having everyone staring at you starts to grate.
streaky
Hopefully a beauty
I like the look of that simple sketch and the multi-use of the word "minimalist". The Phantom has never looked right to me and the second iteration is too fussy in some of its detailing. Apart from their immense size, both seem to look ungainly - tall and narrow - especially from the three-quarter rear, and the latest interior seems to take too much inspiration from a 1950s radiogram! Hopefully the next Ghost will be more a thing of beauty inside and out, not that I'll ever be able to afford one!
pauldb
What a load of pretentious
What a load of pretentious waffle.
xkr
Death of RR
This is beyond comprehension, good luck RR making decisions like this...
rare
xkr wrote:
Wait what, you are being serious? Beyond comprehension to make it AWD? Why? Don't you realise some of the biggest markets appreciate the use of AWD because it means you can drive it throughout the year, especially with winters in another America, Northern Europe and elsewhere.
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