“Dirty Rolls” they called him in the salons of the British aristocracy. Charles Rolls (1877–1910), one of the founders of the British luxury brand Rolls-Royce, always came to events at his university with a white tie. Just the tie was black with oil stains – and Rolls didn’t care. Dress code? Conventions? He whistled.
With the same attitude, Rolls-Royce is now darkening its entry-level model for the Ghost Black Badge. “Not a sub-brand, but a second skin, a kind of canvas for our special customers to express their individuality,” explains Torsten Müller-Ötvös, CEO of the British brand in the hands of BMW. Bad mummery for men and women of honor, so to speak. With a price tag of around 370,000 francs. At least.
Rolls-Royce Ghost Black Badge
Drive: 6.75 liter V12 turbo gasoline engine, 600 PS (441 kW), 900 Nm @ 1600 rpm, 8-speed automatic, all-wheel drive
Driving performance: 0-100 km / h in 4.8 s, top 250 km / h
Dimensions: L / W / H = 5.55 / 2.48 / 1.57 m, weight 2490 kg, trunk 507 l
Environment: Factory 15.8 l / 100 km, 359 g CO2/ km, energy efficiency G
Price: from around 370,000 francs
Drive: 6.75 liter V12 turbo gasoline engine, 600 PS (441 kW), 900 Nm @ 1600 rpm, 8-speed automatic, all-wheel drive
Driving performance: 0-100 km / h in 4.8 s, top 250 km / h
Dimensions: L / W / H = 5.55 / 2.48 / 1.57 m, weight 2490 kg, trunk 507 l
Environment: Factory 15.8 l / 100 km, 359 g CO2/ km, energy efficiency G
Price: from around 370,000 francs
The Phantom is actually the Rolls-Royce icon, but soon after the brand was restarted under BMW direction, customers asked for the same luxury, but with less pomp. From 2009 the little Rolls named Ghost became the brand’s best-selling model and was refreshed last year. But the black badge version came to Müller-Ötvös only after a little shock: A customer sent his Rolls to the tuner, from where he came back with the hood ornament, rims, interior and details in jet black. The Rolls-Royce CEO probably wanted to do this business himself – and has long been offering the Black Badge polish for other models as well.
Black is the most popular color
Each Ghost can be supplied in one of 44,000 paint colors, but the overwhelming majority now order it in black. The grill and the Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament are dark chrome-plated; the 21-inch wheels are coated with 44 layers of carbon. A diamond pattern made of carbon and metal fibers is baked together with several layers of pressed wood and embedded in the dashboard. The clock has a front panel illuminated with 152 LEDs, and 90,000 points of light shine as a starry sky in the headliner.
What is probably the last combustion engine in a Rolls-Royce whispers under the endless hood. Only the 29 additional horsepower of the V12 are barely noticeable with a total output of 600 horsepower. On the other hand, thanks to the new exhaust resonator, it now also masters angry roar. There is of course no sports mode – men and women of honor don’t run, they walk. Nevertheless, there is a so-called low mode, which stiffens the suspension dampers and sharpens the accelerator and eight-speed automatic. Despite the identical performance as the normal Ghost, the Black Badge feels more dynamic and sporty. And somehow darker.