Rolls boss Torsten Müller-Otvös prepares customers for first model launch since Covid-19 pandemic.
Rolls-Royce boss Torsten Müller-Otvös says that the new Ghost luxury saloon, set to be revealed later this year, will be “the purest expression of Rolls-Royce yet” with a ‘pure’ design to reflect a new trend towards “Post Opulence”.
The luxury car firm is currently putting the finishing touches to the second-generation version of the Bentley Flying Spur rival, and Müller-Otvös has attempted to smooth the path to the launch of the crucial machine in an open letter issued to prospective clients – and shared with Automotive Daily’s exclusive content partner Autocar – that tacitly addresses the challenge of launching an ultra-luxury car given the challenges of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
In the letter Müller-Otvös notes that since it was launched in 2009 the original Ghost has become the most successful model in Rolls-Royce’s long history, which he attributed to it being a car that owners could enjoy driving or being driven in.
He added: “They also appreciated the car’s pared-back simplicity, or as they put it, ‘a slightly smaller, less ostentatious means to own a Rolls-Royce.’ Going further, our clients expressed an ardent desire for even more minimalism in design.”
Müller-Otvös said the firm’s research showed that trend reflects a wider movement among luxury customers towards what Rolls has termed ‘Post Opulence’ – a move “towards luxury objects that celebrate reduction and restraint”.
While noting that Rolle-Royce models will always “inspire greatness and present a sense of theatre and magic”, Müller-Otvös said the new Ghost, which has taken five years to develop, will reflect that movement towards reduction.
“Ghost is the purest expression of Rolls-Royce yet,” wrote Müller-Otvös. “It distils the pillars of our brand into a beautiful, minimalist, yet highly complex product that is perfectly in harmony with our Ghost clients’ needs and, I believe, perfectly in tune with the times in which we are all living.”
The new Ghost will switch to a new platform shared with the BMW 7 Series, and Müller-Otvös noted the only components carried over from the successful original were the Spirit of Ecstasy figurehead and umbrellas.
The Ghost will be launched with a digital event later this year, which Müller-Otvös wrote would be preceded by a series of four animations giving an insight into “what we believe is the most sublime expression of Rolls-Royce yet.”
James Attwood