If you’re in the advanced stages of life, you earn a seven-digit salary and still consider yourself a performance motorist, the hotly-anticipated Rolls-Royce Wraith has arrived at the Geneva International Motor Show just for you. What it is, aside from wearing a very-very cool name, is essentially a Rolls-Royce Ghost that’s been shaved down a bit to give it a sleek, fastback, coupé body.
The Wraith has a familiar and requisite Rolls-Royce front fascia, which flows into a fastback roof that tapers to the rear end. Overall, it measures 130 mm shorter, 40 mm wider and 43 mm lower than the Ghost and rides on a 183 mm shorter wheelbase. The interior is instantly recognisable as a Rolls-Royce, but it adopts a four-seater cabin with lots of wood trimming, premium leather, metallic accents and the somewhat tacky star-light headliner (but we’re sure customers in the Arabian states love it).
The Starlight headliner has 1 340 fibre optic lights hand-woven into the roof lining to give the impression of a starry night sky. There is also a voice-activated navigation and connectivity system, which Rolls-Royce calls ‘on-board valet’. A head-up display, adaptive headlights and keyless opening boot function, help to keep the car utterly effortless to operate in any situation.
The Rolls-Royce Wraith is the British marque’s most powerful car ever. The power in the Rolls-Royce Ghost and Wraith comes courtesy of its BMW 760Li stable-mate’s V12 engine, which has been increased to 6.6-litres to develop 465 kW and 799 Nm of torque. The twin-turbocharged 6.6-litre V12 engine enables the luxury car to accelerate from 100 km/h in 4.4 seconds.
The new two-door Rolls-Royce Wraith sees an 8-speed ZF automatic transmission linked to satellite-aided technology that uses GPS mapping data to ensure the correct gear is always pre-selected for the road ahead. It sounds bizarre, but this Satellite Aided Transmission (SAT) technology is the debut for this type of system in any car and is a step closer to what Ford envisaged with their Evos Concept in 2011.
The car is the “ultimate gentlemen’s Gran Turismo”, according to the company’s CEO Torsten Muller-Otvos. In terms of handling, Rolls-Royce engineers have stiffened the suspension and added a revised variable ratio steering system, but while the car’s suspension has been tuned to minimise body roll, Rolls-Royce says the improvements in agility have been achieved with “absolutely no compromise to the sensation of riding on a bed of air.”
The Rolls-Royce Wraith is expected to go on sale before the end of the year and pricing should start at roughly £245 000 (or R3.5-million plus).
