Rolls-Royce Celebrates The End Of An Era With Memorable Ghost Zenith Collection
It is the end of an era—at least for the Ghost—a luxury icon that carried a rich and extraordinary past with Rolls Royce. After a remarkable ten year tenure, the marque is offering to collectors, an extremely limited Zenith Collector’s Edition of Rolls-Royce Ghost. The Collection of just 50 Zeniths will celebrate the timeless elegance of a nameplate that has become the cornerstone of contemporary Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. In true keeping with its name, the Ghost Zenith Collection will feature the highest levels of Bespoke ever seen on a Ghost Collection car. After all, Zenith loosely translates to the highest most successful point of anything—we couldn’t agree more.
The only other occasion in which collectors have been afforded this privilege was when an equally limited number of Phantom VII Zeniths were created in 2016 to celebrate the end of its extraordinarily long and successful reign. These motor cars immediately became highly collectible and sought after, re-setting the bar of luxury and in doing so, creating a modern legend. The Ghost Zenith Collection will be no different.
As for its past, the Ghost has offered patrons and enthusiasts a modern, lithe and driver-focused Rolls-Royce. The Silver Ghost established the moniker of ‘The Best Car in the World’ over one hundred years ago while the 200EX introduced the concept of a contemporary expression of this nameplate at the Geneva Motor Show in 2008. Since the production of Ghost began in 2009, it is revered as the most successful Rolls-Royce motor car ever to be built, attracting a new group of young entrepreneurs to the marque. Indeed, the reduction in the average age of a Rolls-Royce customer to around 43 is in part testament to Ghost’s global success.
How will Rolls-Royce pay their tribute? Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, commented, “The Ghost Zenith Collection presents an entirely forward-looking study of the unique characteristics that have seen Ghost ascend to the status of the most progressive super-luxury saloon ever conceived. This unique Collection provides patrons of the marque with a rare opportunity to own a motor car truly evocative of our time. Ghost is the most successful Rolls-Royce ever created and the Zenith Collection marks an important milestone in our modern history.”
The collection will draw several references from the 200EX, including the inclusion of a commemorative ingot— made from the original 200EX Spirit of ecstasy, melted down and set into the center console of each of the 50 Zeniths. Engraved with the three key design lines of Ghost, the plaque details its significant origins. The Collection’s own Spirit of Ecstasy and clock are also engraved with the name of this highly anticipated collection. In addition, the 200EX is immortalized in a complex engraving on the center console of Ghost Zenith.
A blueprint inspired artwork enlarged to a point of abstraction has been divided into 50 distinct parts, allowing each Ghost Zenith customer their own personal and individual work of art, while at the same time uniting the collection as a group homage to Ghost.
The interiors will draw eyes with illuminated door pockets and ambient light, which emits through perforated leather. The Ghost Zenith also features a complex piece of marquetry, created by the master craftsmen and women in the marque’s legendary woodshop. Available in either wood, Technical fiber or piano finished veneer, the door marquetry transitions from the driver’s suite to passenger suite, emphasizing the dual nature to Ghost.
Members of the Bespoke Collective from the Home of Rolls-Royce’s leather shop too have been perfecting their art. The rear seats feature embroidery that takes its inspiration from the seat details of the original 1907 Silver Ghost. This embroidery transitions from the rear to the front of the cabin, and in the case of the Extended Wheelbase Zenith, the headliner thrusts purposefully forward into the poised silhouette of the Spirit of Ecstasy. The seats themselves are accentuated in contrasting leather, accenting Ghost as the ultimate four-seat limousine.
The Ghost Zenith Standard Wheelbase features the famed starlight headliner, which is presented in a unique shooting star configuration. Shooting stars fire at random across the cabin roof, adding an extraordinary sense of theatre. This surprise and delight feature consists of over 1,340 individually mapped and hand-woven fiber optic lights.
Reminiscent of its Phantom counterpart, The Ghost Zenith Collection’s exterior styling takes on a new interpretation of its own—a two-tone application with a gloss-contrast paint finish. You can select three different color-ways, Iguazu Blue with Andalusian White, Premiere Silver with Arctic White or a daring Bohemian Red with Black Diamond, with multiple variants available highlighting the flexibility of the model—the Silver Satin bonnet was first seen on 200EX.
These extraordinary motor cars, which represent the final opportunity to acquire this landmark, transformative luxury product, are currently being hand-crafted at The Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood, West Sussex, an establishment recognized as the world’s premier Global Centre of Luxury Manufacturing Excellence. The order books for this seminal Collection is sure to close in record time.