LONDON: Rolls-Royce unveiled the VISION NEXT 100 here today, calling it a completely personal, effortless and autonomous Rolls-Royce experience, wrapped in a design that ensures a "grand sanctuary" for its occupants, and a "grand arrival".
It is the marque’s first-ever pure "Vision Vehicle". Codenamed 103EX, the car defines the future of luxury mobility. The other Vision car revealed here today was the MINI VISION NEXT 100.
Rolls-Royce will create the chassis of the future, hand-built from the most advanced materials and powered by a zero emissions powertrain. Advanced manufacturing technologies will enable customers to involve themselves even more in the design of the shape, size and silhouette of their personal Rolls-Royce vision. The future customer will commission his or her own concept. Rolls-Royce will design and manufacture this personal vision of each customer and make every Rolls-Royce a unique Bespoke masterpiece.
Brought to life by Rolls-Royce after many months of study and consultation with current patrons of the brand, the car represents their clearly expressed desire for an assurance that the marque’s plans for the future of luxury personal mobility will continue to embody the key attributes that have made Rolls-Royce the preferred marque of the most discerning and powerful patrons in the world for over a Century.
This ‘Vision Vehicle’ is one of four announced by the BMW Group in Munich on March 7, as it launched its centenary celebrations – THE NEXT 100 YEARS. In addition to being the centenary of the BMW Group, 2016 also marks the end of production of the seventh generation Phantom. This represents the completion of the first phase of the Rolls-Royce brand’s rise under BMW Group. The success of Phantom, Ghost, Wraith and now Dawn serves as validation of that.
At 5.9 metres long and 1.6 metres high, the VISION NEXT 100 is imposing, mirroring the size of today’s Phantom Extended Wheelbase. The Spirit of Ecstasy is hand-crafted by top European glassmakers and sits atop the re-imagined Pantheon grille with the red Double-R badge of an experimental Rolls-Royce.
The polished metal of the grille flows up over the nose, around the base of the Spirit of Ecstasy and along the top of the suspended laser-headlight hoops, before narrowing to shoot down the side of the vehicle’s long bonnet, as a dividing line between upper and lower sections of the car. This metal feature creates a "horseshoe" as it flows along the top edge of the coach door, describes a parabola up and over the pronounced rear shoulder, encircling the rear of the glass canopy and back down the other flank.
This dividing line accentuates the car’s two-tone design scheme. The upper section is made of dark glass while the lower section has a silk-like ‘Crystal Water’ colour scheme, appearing to make the car float.
The 28-inch tall but narrow wheels upon which the car glides are each hand-built from 65 individual pieces of aluminium, and enclosed to deliver the impression of a futuristic catamaran.
The cabin is encircled by Macassar wood panelling, sweeping across the interior from the coach door, continuing around behind the big OLED screen and up beside the second passenger to the side of the sofa. The centrepiece of the cabin is the sofa. The best seat in the house, it is a futuristic interpretation of modern furniture design. It gives the impression of floating within the cocoon of the cabin thanks to the artful use of lighting and modern materials.
A final sensual touchpoint is the deep-pile ivory wool carpet woven here.
When it comes time to offload the passenger, the car's glass canopy, hinged on the left, lifts to allow the occupant to stand whilst providing shelter from above and behind. Then the single coach door sweeps open and a step emerges from below the running board. As a final flourish, a red light is projected, carpet-like, from the underside of the step as a welcome.
“With the Rolls-Royce VISION NEXT 100, we were mindful not to dwell on the past. We wanted to be as innovative as possible and at the same time transcend the design history of the marque,” said design director Giles Taylor.
