Factory tuning? At Rolls Royce? That sounds outrageous, crazy, almost blasphemy. That's why it's not as wild as it looks at first glance. The Rolls Royce Ghost, the British “small” luxury sedan, and the Wraith, the coupé based on the sedan, are undergoing a performance program that is intended to change the character of both. Where is the journey going? Pimp my Ride or in-house optimization?
What haven't we seen before: Rappers have the British luxury cars painted in the worst rainbow colors, not only spoil the look with carriage-like large 30-inch chrome rims and install the wildest snakeskin or crocodile interiors you can only imagine. Of course, Rolls Royce doesn't want that - quite the opposite - and wraps its two derivatives exclusively in a single color: according to Henry Ford, the customer can choose any color as long as it is black. The paint not only covers the entire body, but also adorns the radiator and the legendary hood ornament, the “Spirit of Extasy”. The British emphasize that the color used is the deepest and darkest black that you can get for a production car.
Inside, however, you have to ask yourself what happened to the British's noble reluctance. You can - of course - have every square millimeter covered with perfect leather. But the color combinations shown raise the question of whether a spoken vocal artist has switched to the design department after all. The combination of bright blue with an anthracite or a kind of raspberry-violet does not quite fit the noble claim.
The idea sounds similar when the British talk about optimizing the V12 twin-turbo engine. In the sedan, performance on 612 PS and 840 Nm grew, while the coupe remains at its 632 horsepower. The two-door has gained in torque and now also offers 840 Nm, instead of the previous 770. So far so good, but it does not leave Rolls Royce. The developers also want to have changed the throttle response, so that only a slight pressure on the right pedal is enough to climb the speed ladder to the end. There is only hope that the British understatement is maintained and the heavy vehicles do not mutate into fidgety footballer cars.