Rolls-Royce outlines new Ghost’s ‘minimalist' design in new video

Rolls-Royce has outlined the new minimalist design philosophy behind the new Ghost in the first in a series of animated videos charting the development of the luxury saloon.

The second generation of the Bentley Flying Spur rival is due to be launched later this year and will reflect a new design trend of 'post opulence', a move by buyers of luxury products towards simplicity and minimalism.

Rolls-Royce boss Torsten Müller-Otvos outlined the thinking behind that new philosophy in an open letter to customers recently. In the new video released by the firm on social media, design chief Henry Cloke has outlined how it has affected the Ghost’s design. He said the machine, recently spied testing at the Nürburgring, would feature fewer design lines and sharp edges.

Speaking in a voiceover for the video, Cloke said Ghost customers “don’t want grandeur or fuss; they want something pure and clean”.

He added: “We removed all unnecessary design. We deleted shutlines and pursued a minimal aesthetic, while ensuring that the new Ghost was unmistakably a Rolls-Royce. Along the way, we discovered that creating perfect simplicity is really, really complex.”

The Ghost will be built on an adapted version of the firm’s aluminium platform used for the Phantom and Cullinan, but Cloke noted it had been extensively modified due to the Ghost’s great focus on driving dynamics.

“To achieve it on new Ghost, we had to take huge steps, such as hand-welding aluminium bodies and sowing incredibly long, perfectly straight stitch lines. We had to find futuristic new materials, and to complement this, our engineers completely reconfigured our Rolls-Royce architecture. They distilled the experience of Ghost, embuing it with an incredibly pure and refined driving personality. 

“Clients expressed a desire for something even more refined and even more pure than their existing Ghost, but still in every respect a true Rolls-Royce.”

The animated video is the first of four that will be released in the build-up to the launch of the new Ghost.

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