Rolls-Royce’s custom-built motor cars are a source of delayed gratification, spending months in the careful hands of the company’s craftspeople before rolling out of the Goodwood, England factory and on to their patiently waiting owners. That entire process takes a targeted 12 to 15 months.
But demand for the company’s first EV, the Spectre, is pushing beyond that time, according to CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös, owing to the strong demand we reported on in January.
“If you would order today, you probably will take delivery in 2025,” Müller-Ötvös told InsideEVs during a media scrum at the Concorso D’Eleganza Villa D’Este in Lake Como, Italy on Saturday. “Our intention [is 15 months], yeah? Mid to long term we might see spikes, obviously, but my intention is not that our clients need to wait many years until they take delivery of one of our products.”
Gallery: 2023 Rolls-Royce Spectre
“Clients don't appreciate, in the luxury segment, waiting times over two years, three years, four years, five years, or even let's say, like, ‘We are sold out even before the car is on the ground,’ or whatever. I think that is by all means bad production planning, nothing else,” the CEO added.
Müller-Ötvös also riffed on the lessons the company learned with its past electric concepts, the 102EX (below) and 103EX, that informed the Spectre, and how the production model is “clearly driven and engineered by client feedback.”
“We learned a lot about range. We learned a lot about charging times [with the concepts],” Müller-Ötvös said. “It was clear that we don't need to be number one with outrageous range or whatever, but a range of 500 kilometers (311 miles) is totally sufficient for our clients.”
“It also gave us the right logic behind battery size,” he added. “How much do we need to do in terms of body shape? What should the whole car look like? It's a very fine balance between range, size of batteries, and then what kind of compromises you suddenly get with the entire design of the car.”
Müller-Ötvös’ comments on styling are especially interesting, considering how the Spectre rethinks traditional Rolls-Royce cues, like the iconic Pantheon grille, which has a discernible rake to it, along with some interior changes.
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“Our clear decision was we want to keep the Pantheon grille because it is such a significant piece of Rolls-Royce,” Müller-Ötvös explained. But “[this] grille is very different from what we have ever seen before on a Rolls-Royce. The vanes are shaped in a way that the wind circles perfectly around the car and no longer goes in for cooling purposes as it used to be.”
As a result, Müller-Ötvös’ confirmed, the Spectre is the most aerodynamically efficient Roller ever, adding “All the clients who ordered [a Spectre] are very enthusiastic about it, obviously.” Us too, Torsten. Fortunately, we won’t be waiting 15 months. Check back in June, when InsideEVs gets our first crack at the first all-electric Rolls-Royce.