Black Badge Spectre is most powerful Rolls-Royce ever made
Its arrival also takes the Black Badge moniker into the electric age for the first time. Launched in 2016, Black Badge branding is intended to denote powerful and more individualistic versions of its most luxurious cars and is targeted at younger buyers.
Arriving just over a year after the Spectre went on sale as the brand's first electric car, the Black Badge model is pitched as a more aggressive proposition than the standard EV.
While the dual-motor Rolls-Royce Black Badge Spectre offers the same 577bhp as the standard car in normal running, a new Infinity mode unlocks a further 73bhp and quickens throttle response.
This performance-enhancing feature is said to be inspired by the Rolls Royce Merlin engine that powered aircraft such as the Supermarine Spitfire during the Second World War. It allowed pilots to call on an extra burst of power to escape dog fights.
As well as the Infinity mode (the symbol of Black Badge), Rolls-Royce has added a launch control setting called Spirited mode, which boosts torque from 660lb ft to 793lb ft and primes the car for a 0-62mph time of 4.1sec.
In all, the potent new Spectre model surpasses the output of the 2016 Wraith Black Badge, which made 623bhp and 642lb ft from its twin-turbocharged V12.
In sync with the extra reserves of the Black Badge Spectre, engineers have fitted new dampers to reduce the effects of the three-tonne EV squatting under acceleration and diving under braking. They also increase the roll stabilisation for flatter cornering. The car gets heavier steering too.
Rolls-Royce has introduced new levels of customisation with the Black Badge Spectre. One option enables buyers to fit the illuminated grille with a backplate that lights up in one of five colours.
This theme continues inside, where the treadplate can also be illuminated, this time in 10 different colourways. The cabin houses the same luxuries as the standard car, which combines an array of high-end materials with digital screens and physical buttons.
The Black Badge is also available with a new colour: Vapour Violet. This is said to be inspired by the 'neon ambience of 1980s and 1990s club culture'. The new colour can be paired with a white bonnet for a 'bold contrast'. Special new 23in fi ve-spoke alloy wheels are fitted and shod with Rolls-Royce's noise-cancelling run-flat tyres.
'Black Badge Spectre is one of the clearest statements of power and purpose we have ever made,' said Rolls-Royce CEO Chris Brownridge. 'Our engineers crafted an intense and uncompromising character and the most powerful Rolls-Royce in history.'
The company has not disclosed pricing, but with the standard car costing from £332,055 before options, it is likely that transaction prices for the Black Badge Spectre will creep well beyond the £500,000 mark once cars are equipped to customers' specifications.
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