Rolls-Royce Ghost

Rolls-Royce Ghost at a glance

The Ghost sits below the flagship Phantom and has become the brand's best-selling model. More Rolls-Royce models are listed in our Rolls-Royce catalogue, and the story of the marque is told in our history of Rolls-Royce.

First generation (2009–2020)

The saloon was named after the 1906 Silver Ghost, one of the most famous cars in the company's history. It has the brand's unmistakable grille and the Spirit of Ecstasy, the "flying lady" mascot, which retracts into the bonnet.

Exterior

The Ghost looks solid and is just that. A long, sculpted bonnet with a chrome centre strip ends with the retractable mascot, and the large rectangular grille is all chrome. The narrow headlights have LED internals, with sidelights below them. The front bumper is modest, with only air intakes in its lower section.

From the side the car looks fairly plain, apart from large mirrors, massive door handles of polished aluminium and chrome window surrounds. Ground clearance is 150 mm, and the air suspension can vary it between 125 and 175 mm. Large wheel arches carry 19-inch wheels as standard, with 21-inch factory wheels available. The rear has compact oval LED lights, a large boot lid with a chrome strip and two big exhaust pipes in the bumper. The Ghost is just as imposing as its big brother, the Rolls-Royce Phantom, but its design is more cohesive. It was offered with a standard or, from 2011, an extended wheelbase.

Interior

As in every Rolls-Royce, build quality is exceptional and only the best materials are used. The leather front and rear seats have electric adjustment with memory, heating and ventilation, and there is space to spare.

The driver faces a comfortable leather-trimmed three-spoke wheel with gloss inserts, electric adjustment and buttons for the various systems, and analogue instruments; the electronic parking brake switch sits behind the wheel. A head-up display shows plenty of information. The dashboard carries a large wooden panel whose veneer the buyer chooses when ordering. At the top of the console, a 10.25-inch screen for the infotainment and navigation system emerges from behind a panel. Below it are air vents, various buttons and the unusual climate controls: chrome organ-stop levers that adjust temperature in steps rather than to an exact figure. Further down are the controls for seat heating, ventilation and infotainment.

The tunnel has large storage compartments, a big rotary controller topped with the Spirit of Ecstasy for the infotainment system and cupholders. Rear passengers get similar functions. The boot holds 490 litres in every version and is trimmed in high-quality materials. There is no spare wheel, as the car runs on run-flat tyres.

Engine and transmission

The first-generation Ghost uses an aluminium 6.6-litre twin-turbo V12 with 48 valves, direct injection and variable valve timing. It produces 419 kW (570 PS) and 780 Nm (820 Nm from 2016); the Black Badge version has 450 kW (612 PS) and 840 Nm. Fuel consumption is 14–14.6 l/100 km.

A ZF eight-speed automatic uses navigation data to select the best gear for the road ahead. The first generation is rear-wheel drive only. It reaches 100 km/h in 4.8–5.0 seconds, and top speed is limited to 250 km/h.

Chassis

The Ghost is based on the platform of the BMW 7 Series (F01). The monocoque body uses high-strength steel and aluminium. The fully independent air suspension, with double wishbones at the front and a multi-link rear axle, has adaptive dampers and active anti-roll bars and can adjust its settings every 2.5 milliseconds. Rack-and-pinion steering with hydraulic assistance makes the big car easy to manoeuvre. All four brakes are ventilated discs, 410 mm at the front and 402 mm at the rear.

Equipment

Few buyers order a Ghost in standard form; most specify their car individually. Even the standard car has six airbags, four-zone climate control, 19-inch wheels, ABS and stability control, LED headlights and tail lights, adaptive cruise control, power-closing doors and boot lid, heated front and rear seats, surround-view cameras and a sound system with 14 speakers and two subwoofers.

Second generation (2020 onwards)

Revealed in September 2020, the new Ghost is the brand's most popular model. According to Rolls-Royce, it carries over only the Spirit of Ecstasy and the umbrellas in the doors from its predecessor. The first car shared its platform with the BMW 7 Series; the new one shares Rolls-Royce's own aluminium architecture with the Phantom, which changed generation three years earlier, and with the Cullinan. It is more dynamic, better equipped and noticeably more expensive.

Exterior

The second Ghost keeps the brand's style but loses most of the lines of the previous model, following the "Post Opulence" idea of restraint and fewer decorative elements. Twenty LEDs illuminate the grille. For the first time in the company's history, the Spirit of Ecstasy no longer stands on the grille but on a separate panel set into the bonnet.

There are no separate daytime running lights: all lighting is combined in single units, and the high beams use laser-phosphor elements that light the road up to 600 metres ahead. The lower front has slim fog lamps, a central number-plate mount and a block-style air intake with fine mesh flanked by side vents.

The profile keeps the familiar proportions: a long nose, a gently sloping roof and a massive rear. The doors are power-operated again but now work almost unnoticed, and they take the slope of the road into account. Perfectly shaped wheel arches house two-tone 21-inch wheels. At the rear, the tail lights have a new, softer outline, the boot lid has a vertical edge and the wide bumper has rounded corners and integrated chrome exhaust tips. The rain channels in the roof are gone; stainless-steel door frames now guide water away from the windows when the doors are opened.

Interior

The rear-hinged rear doors remain. New features include:

• a digital instrument panel - still without a rev counter, but with a gauge showing how much power is in reserve;
• a starlight effect in the dashboard fascia created by 850-plus LEDs;
• the Micro-Environment Purification System for ultra-fine air filtration;
• a Bespoke audio system with 18 speakers and 1,300 W;
• two 10-inch screens.

Rolls-Royce engineers worked hard to reduce noise. Major components were tuned so that they share the same resonant frequency, about 100 kg of extra sound insulation was added, and the ventilation ducts were polished to reduce airflow noise. The open-pore wood on the dashboard looks more classical than the highly polished walnut of earlier models. There is plenty of space, and the boot holds 507 litres - not a record, but more than enough for everyday use.

Engine and transmission

The second-generation Ghost has a 6.75-litre twin-turbo V12 mounted behind the front axle, giving 50:50 weight distribution. It develops 420 kW (571 PS) and 850 Nm (900 Nm in the extended-wheelbase version). It reaches 100 km/h in 4.8 seconds, and top speed is limited to 250 km/h.

The eight-speed automatic is carried over with revised software. New is all-wheel drive, borrowed from the Cullinan SUV, together with all-wheel steering. Rolls-Royce says this makes the car more composed, especially in winter.

Chassis and safety

The independent air suspension with adaptive long-travel dampers is called the Planar Suspension System. It adds an extra damper above the upper wishbones at the front and works actively: a stereo camera behind the windscreen scans the road ahead and prepares the suspension and anti-roll bars for surface changes. Ventilated discs are fitted all round.

Safety and assistance systems include active cruise control, several surround-view cameras, an automatic parking assistant, night vision that detects pedestrians and animals, lane departure warning, emergency braking and rear cross-traffic alert.

In October 2024 the second-generation Ghost was updated as the Series II, with slimmer headlights, a larger illuminated grille, redesigned bumpers and tail-light graphics and new 22-inch wheels.

Rivals

In this rarefied class the Ghost's main rivals are the Bentley Flying Spur and the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class. Few cars, however, carry the same status.