In 2025, Rolls-Royce celebrates the centenary of its most enduring and prestigious mannequin: the Phantom. First launched in 1925 because the “New Phantom,” the automobile has remained the model’s flagship for eight generations, evolving alongside the corporate whereas holding its place because the definitive Rolls-Royce.
From Silver Ghost to Phantom
The Phantom emerged because the successor to the Silver Ghost, the mannequin that had earned Rolls-Royce the status of constructing “one of the best automobile on the earth.” By the early Twenties, Henry Royce realized that the Silver Ghost had reached the boundaries of growth. The New Phantom arrived in 1925 with improved refinement and engineering, marketed in The Occasions as a contemporary chapter for the corporate.
The selection of identify was no accident. Claude Johnson, the corporate’s business managing director, had already coined evocative titles like Silver Ghost to emphasise quietness and beauty. His intuition for names—Phantom, Wraith, Ghost—gave Rolls-Royce fashions an identification that resonated far past the engineering.
Engineering Milestones
The primary Phantom set the template: a rolling chassis delivered to coachbuilders, who created our bodies to every proprietor’s needs. This custom produced among the most extravagant commissions of the period, from hidden safes and writing desks to secret compartments.
Phantom II, launched in 1929, refined the formulation with a stiffer chassis and higher efficiency. Phantom III adopted in 1936, introducing a V12 engine and impartial entrance suspension to maintain tempo with American rivals providing multi-cylinder luxurious automobiles.
After World Conflict II, the Phantom almost disappeared. Rolls-Royce shifted towards less complicated, extra rationalized fashions. However a request from the British Royal Family to interchange its Daimlers revived the Phantom identify. The outcome was the ultra-exclusive Phantom IV, with solely 18 constructed for royalty and heads of state.
The Royal Connection
Phantom V, launched in 1959, introduced the mannequin again into broader—although nonetheless rarefied—manufacturing. It turned a staple of state events, together with two examples constructed for Royal service with Perspex roof domes so the occupants could possibly be seen by crowds. Phantom VI adopted in 1968 and carried the custom of hand-built limousines till 1993, with one of many remaining automobiles delivered to the Sultan of Brunei.
A New Period at Goodwood
When BMW relaunched Rolls-Royce at Goodwood in 2003, Phantom VII turned the primary mannequin of the trendy period. It stored the grandeur of previous Phantoms however launched an all-new in-house platform and development strategies. The automobile reestablished Rolls-Royce on the prime of the posh automobile market, whereas additionally supporting the model’s increasing Bespoke program.
In 2017, Phantom VIII arrived, constructed on the corporate’s “Structure of Luxurious” aluminum platform. It launched “The Gallery,” a glass panel stretching throughout the dashboard that enables house owners to show commissioned artworks. Like its predecessors, it was conceived as a automobile with out compromise, meant as each a driver’s automobile and a chauffeured expertise.
The Phantom Right now
Over the previous century, the Phantom has stood as greater than only a automobile—it has been a cultural marker of wealth, ceremony, and craftsmanship. Current commissions have turned it right into a canvas for high fashion, movie tributes, cultural heritage, and one-of-a-kind artistry. Examples embody the Phantom Syntopia with a textile-inspired headliner and the Phantom Prolonged “Yr of the Dragon,” created for 2024’s Lunar New Yr.
Because the Phantom enters its second century, its function stays unchanged: the highest of the Rolls-Royce vary, and an emblem of what the corporate considers the last word expression of luxurious motoring.
