![]() An elongated and illuminated grille looks hungry enough to swallow an elephant. The two doors are a whopping 1.5 meters (5 feet) long, so big that an electric motor closes them when you press the brake, because you can’t reach the handle. Chartreuse paint flecked with metallic flakes glittered in the African sun, and the yawning front nose and 23-inch wheels looked regal enough for King Charles. ![]() I first explored it in the streets around Franschhoek, about 50 miles outside of Cape Town. (Rolls-Royce co-developed the battery and motors with parent company BMW AG, then further refined them over months of testing to comply with Rolls-Royce standards.) Its long fastback shape most approximates the rare Phantom Coupe made from 2008 to 2016 rather than the smaller Wraith, although this is a vehicle designed from scratch, not one derived from anything else. ![]() It’s what you get when money is no object, but you still have a good British sense of restraint and refinement. This is the ultimate luxury vehicle, where no expense is spared for creature comforts and ease of driving. When I first saw the car parked on grey cobblestones in an immaculately manicured vineyard near Cape Town, its grand stance–nearly 18 feet long and more than six feet wide–communicated a significant sense of occasion. What will happen if Pakistan defaults on its debt? The car I drove is a preproduction prototype. (A spokesperson declined to say how much money the company spent making it, but it has undergone five phases of testing and 1.5 million trial miles in Sweden, Africa and the French Riviera.) I had to hustle all the way from Los Angeles to South Africa for a first crack at driving it, because engineers had it down there for final hot-weather testing. Spectre is by far the most expensive-to-develop, and most agonized-over, vehicle Rolls-Royce has ever produced, according to the brand. The 118-year-old brand has tied its mythology to its famously huge combustion engines, but this first step into electrification is bold and surefooted. The firstborn in a planned line of electric vehicles, this two-door titan saturates its passengers in indulgence. It signals a smooth transition ahead After rolling around South African wine country, I found the estimated $500,000 coupe to be smoother, more silent and more powerful–not to mention better looking–than any of its V-12 predecessors. That’s how I ended up in Cape Town behind the wheel of the 2023 Rolls-Royce Spectre.
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