When the Rolls-Royce Ghost Series I was launched in South Africa by the Daytona Group, I had the opportunity to take it for a leisurely drive around Houghton after having been driven around by a pleasant young lady from the Daytona’s marketing and sales team. Back seat or driver’s seat, on that day I decided that one day I will have a Ghost parked in my garage, and not just temporarily. While I still have soft sport for the Ghost I, Rolls-Royce has developed the Ghost Series II, which was launched in March this year in South Africa.
There have been a number of changes to the Ghost Series II designed to enhance rather than totally alter the aesthetic that was created in the Ghost Series I. These include, as per their press release:
Exterior
- Re-sculpted LED headlights encircled by daytime running lights.
- A tapered ‘wake channel’ on the bonnet emanating from the Spirit of Ecstasy.
- Subtle re-sculpting of the Ghost’s bumpers to create a stronger stance and a sense of extra width and height.
- The addition of chrome inserts to the front air intakes, which now feed more air cooling to the front brakes.
- The waft line has been re-designed to lean further forwards.
- New optional 21” forged wheels and standard 19” wheels.
Interior
- It has an umbrella slotted in the passenger door which is easy to access.
- Re-designed seats with electronically adjustable thigh supports for front seat passengers as well as the ability to angle rear seats towards each other. Also available are three-level heating, ability to recline and an optional massage function.
- Instrument dials and clock have individually applied polished metal chaplets around the dials with matt chrome centres that ‘float’ in the middle of each instrument.
- Two new, Bespoke customisation veneers; Paldao and Walnut Burr Crossband.
Technology
- On-board Wi-Fi for when you need to get some work done while on the move (obviously when being driven).
- Satellite Aided Transmission (SAT) which, using GPS and mapping data, ensures the car is always in the correct gear when negotiating turns, motorway exists and roundabouts.
- Updated navigation and car/user interface.
- Optional Bespoke Audio which is truly phenomenal. I had to crank it up just once. The audio team were involved from design phase and it comes with 18 individually-tuned speakers, with both theatre and studio settings. Two bass speakers located in the boot. Seven speakers placed throughout the cabin. Two ‘exciter’ speakers in the roof-lining.
- On-board 20.5GB hard drive with USB port located glove compartment or centre console
- Bluetooth streaming, podcast and audio book download and iPhone/iPad connections for importing music also available.
For the campaign – No Ordinary Power – to launch the Ghost Series II, they had “the longest motion control rig ever used in automotive advertising, 288 hours of time lapsed skies and a whole week spent processing the data.” The video below shows the process of creating the campaign:
I have never understood the concept of ‘guilty pleasures’. If, or rather when, one is in a position to enjoy the experience of owning a Ghost II, it should simply be pleasure. Check out the No Ordinary Power campaign video.