CarBrandLogos archive · Rolls-Royce · 2009

Rolls-RoyceGhost

The smaller Rolls that outsold every other, by knowing what to leave out.

Photo: Mr.choppers · CC BY-SA 3.0

The story

A defining chapter in Rolls-Royce history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Rolls-Royce Ghost, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Having re-established the marque at the top with the Phantom, Rolls-Royce needed something beneath it. The Ghost of 2009, designed by Henry Cloke and built at Goodwood, borrowed its underpinnings and V12 architecture from BMW's 7 Series and applied Rolls-Royce's own body, suspension tuning, interior and manufacturing standards on top. That shortened development and cut cost, and the finished car was still recognisably of the brand.

Rolls-Royce Ghost · Jakub "Flyz1" Maciejewski · CC BY-SA 4.0

Rolls-Royce Ghost - Flickr - Alexandre Prévot

Design and engineering

It was also the car that widened the customer base. Shorter and less imposing than a Phantom, and considerably cheaper, the Ghost reached owners who intended to drive themselves, and it quickly became the highest-volume Rolls-Royce ever made. The Wraith coupe and Dawn convertible were developed from it.

Rolls-Royce Ghost - Flickr - Alexandre Prévot · Alexandre Prévot from Nancy, France · CC BY-SA 2.0

In production

The second generation, launched in 2020, dropped the BMW platform for the aluminium spaceframe shared with the Phantom VIII and Cullinan, adopted all-wheel drive and rear-wheel steering, and added a suspension system with an upper wishbone damper to smooth the initial response of the front wheels. Its design was described by the company as post-opulence: fewer lines, fewer decorative touches, and an insistence that restraint reads as expensive. Whether it does is a matter of taste, but the Ghost continues to sell in numbers that no Rolls-Royce before 2009 approached.

Rolls-Royce Ghost · Dennis Elzinga · CC BY 2.0

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

2009–present

Designer

Henry Cloke

Body

4-door saloon

Technical specification

The Ghost, in detail.

Production: 2009–present
Class: Full-size luxury car (F); Ultra-luxury car
Body style: 4-door saloon
Layout: Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout; FR (first generation) ; Front-engine, all-wheel-drive layout; F4 (second generation)
Designer: Henry Cloke
Assembly: United Kingdom: West Sussex, England (Goodwood plant)
Manufacturer: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars