The Rolls-Royce Phantom, the flagship model that has proudly carried the Spirit of Ecstasy for the better part of the new millennium, will be retired in 2016 as the British luxury brand prepares to shift to a new era of Rolls-Royce models. The announcement was made by Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes, thus ending a 13-year run for the seventh-generation Phantom.
According to Mueller-Oetves, the company will set aside the remainder of the year to round out the production of the Phantom, while also paying tribute to the model that has become the foundation of Rolls-Royce’s renaissance. Production is expected to conclude in November 2016 when the last Phantom Coupé and Drophead Coupé at Goodwood will be completed. Likewise, a handful of special edition models, called the Phantom Zenith, will be produced to celebrate the model’s highly successful and oftentimes influential production run. Only 50 units of the Phantom Zenith will be built to underscore the model’s exclusivity.
As for its successor, Rolls-Royce has yet to divulge a lot of specific details about the model. What we do know is that it will use the company’s all-new aluminum architecture, much like every RR model that will be arrive in-market beginning in 2018. This new architecture is expected to much lighter than the version used by the current Phantom. Without knowing any of the tech details, the mere fact that this new frame will be lighter is a good indication that the new model will have better performance times than its predecessor. Unfortunately, recent spy shots of the car doing winter testing in heavy camouflage have given little indication on what we can expect, although judging by how it looked, camo and all, Rolls-Royce still has a lot of work to do.
The new Phantom, if it’s going to be called that, isn’t expected to arrive until 2018. For now, we’re probably more suited leaving the new model alone so we can spend time recognizing what the current version did for the Rolls-Royce brand. It’s safe to say that without the seventh-gen Phantom, Rolls-Royce wouldn’t be where it is now. That’s going to be model’s lasting legacy, and a fitting one now that it’s ready to ride off into the sunset.
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