Red Rolls-Royce Phantom Commission with Mickalene Thomas

Since its debut in 1925, the Rolls-Royce Phantom has been the choice of luxury automobile transport for the world’s most powerful men and women, and naturally a constant presence at many of history’s most memorable moments.

Every new Phantom that has subsequently appeared has successfully retained the title of ‘Best Car in the World’ as a result of Rolls-Royce’s tireless pursuit of perfection, visionary engineering, aesthetic acuity and deep understanding of what the world’s leading luxury item should be. Quite simply, Rolls-Royce has innovated for almost a century to set the benchmark and satisfy the most discerning luxury patrons.

A new benchmark has been set with the arrival of New Phantom – the eighth generation of this great nameplate. Not satisfied with simply launching a motor car that is a wholly contemporary design interpretation of Phantom DNA and a technological tour de force, Rolls-Royce has revolutionised the luxury car industry itself by shifting away from the status quo of shared platforms to an entirely new luxury business model.

New Phantom offers a wholly new, contemporary design interpretation of Rolls-Royce Phantom DNA. The all-new aluminium ‘Architecture of Luxury’ underpinning the New Phantom is lighter, stiffer, quieter and more technologically advanced. The many years of engineering ensures the architectural and proportional lineage of Rolls-Royce while delivering a whole new level of ‘Magic Carpet Ride.’

This commission design, by the world-renowned Bespoke Design Collective in Goodwood, England, Home of Rolls-Royce stands alone as a natural authority. Designers have carried the powerful Red theme throughout the design in subtle and luxurious style. This Red Phantom makes a statement, especially upon its regal arrival.

Exterior

The exterior wears a Bespoke color finish of Crystal over Magma Red. The already lustrous Magma Red paint is further enhanced by tiny particles of actual crystal which have been captured in the final layers of the clear finish. The result is a brilliant prismatic effect that intensifies in direct sunlight with flashes of light from the entire surface. Recently created by the Rolls-Royce design engineers, the finish is comprised of five layers, each hand-polished for more than five hours.

To match the brilliance of the paint, all exterior brightwork is in a fully polished finish as are the 22” fully forged alloy wheels that feature the Rolls-Royce signature self-righting center caps.

Interior

The handcrafted Bespoke leather interior and appointments throughout are created from nine hides of hand-selected and drum-dyed leather with a color scheme of stunning Arctic White with Mugello Red Leather highlights throughout. Rich expanses of crisp white leather are framed by the use of Black Piano Lacquer and heavy bright chrome. The accents of hand stitched Mugello Red leather are a celebration of color in key areas of focus across the interior while the vehicle’s wood veneers were expertly selected and finished by hand in rich black Piano Lacquer with six coats of lacquer to ensure a perfect finish.

Within Phantom there is a Bespoke opportunity previously unseen in luxury motoring to showcase a new level of interior artistry and craftsmanship known as The Gallery. Housed within a single-piece glass fascia and extending across the instrument panel, the Gallery delivers visual and emotional elements that are unique to Phantom. In this example, The Gallery is constructed for the first time ever in Bespoke Mugello Red leather using the ‘Regatta Sails’ design motif. Created from handmade carbon fiber, then wrapped in Bespoke Mugello Leather, The Gallery and its matching Bespoke clock are then assembled in a clean room environment and sealed.

And overhead the new owner will enjoy a newly designed icon of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, a Mugello Red Shooting Starlight Headliner. The world-famous Rolls-Royce Starlight headliner has now been enhanced to add an amazing new experience in this Bespoke Phantom: shooting stars in Mugello Red. Presented in fine leather and handwoven with over 1,600 fiber filaments, the shooting starlight headliner fills the night sky above the occupants with a gentle glow of stars that whose intensity can be controlled by the customer. However, with the second press of the button, the new shooting star feature is activated where a selection of stars randomly shoots across the night sky.

Incalculable effort was expended to create ‘the most silent motor car in the world’ including 6mm two-layer glazing all around the car, more than 130kg of sound insulation, the largest ever cast aluminium joints in a body-in-white for better sound insulation and use of high absorption materials.

Acoustic insulation from road noise has been helped by the employment of double skin alloy on areas within the floor and bulkhead of the spaceframe. This is a feature unique to New Phantom. Further noise insulation by inserting dense foam and felt layers are between these skins to provide sound insulation not witnessed before in the car industry.

In addition, high absorption layers within the headliner, in the doors and in the boot cavity have further aided insulation and reduced reverberation.

All serve to create the ultimate stage for the fitted Rolls-Royce Bespoke Audio System for Phantom.

A powerful amplifier controls 18 channels (one for each speaker), providing a 1300-watt output. State-of-the-art optimisation technology and high precision magnesium-ceramic compound speaker cones enable near-infinitesimal changes in sound with an outstanding frequency response.

Two active microphones in the cabin also enable an adaptive function, detecting the absence or over emphasis of frequencies before triggering the amplifier to adjust the loudness of certain frequency ranges to counteract it. The Bespoke Audio system makes the most of the highest quality, uncompressed dynamic rate music providing an exceptional listening experience.

Whether experiencing Phantom from within or gazing upon its beauty from the outside, it is easy to see the heritage and prestige that has sustained Rolls-Royce Motor Cars for 115 years.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is a wholly owned subsidiary of the BMW Group and is a completely separate company from Rolls-Royce plc, the manufacturer of aircraft engines and propulsion systems. Over 2,000 skilled men and women are employed at the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars’ head office and manufacturing plant at Goodwood, West Sussex, the only place in the world where the company’s super-luxury motor cars are hand-built.

Further information:

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