Legendary Rolls-Royce Spirit of Ecstasy Mascot Gets Aerodynamic Revamp For Electric Vehicle Spectre

The Vintage Gets a Make Over

This great revamp has taken place eleven years and the whole of a century (111 years to be precise) after Rolls-Royce formally registered the symbol as an intellectual property.

More than a century after Rolls-Royce registered the iconic lady in flying robes as intellectual property, the Spirit of Ecstasy has been redesigned – but only to make it more aerodynamic when mounted atop the hood of the company's first all-electric production vehicle, the Rolls-Royce Spectre, the Wraith's electric successor/alternative. After 830 hours of modelling and wind tunnel testing, the Spirit of Ecstasy is approximately 18mm shorter, standing at 82.7mm tall.

The fine lady's feet are now positioned one in front of the other, and her flying robes have been slightly tweaked to appear more realistic, or 'graceful,' as the company describes them. All of this has the pleasant side effect of contributing to the Rolls-Royce Spectre's undeniably amazing 0.26Cd aerodynamic drag coefficient, making the Spectre the most aerodynamic Rolls ever. According to reports, that figure is expected to increase further in the run-up to the Spectre's introduction in 2023.

Apart from that, the new Spirit of Ecstasy, which is expected to debut on the two-door Spectre, will not be added to the Rolls-Royce roster. The aero mascot will continue to pave the way for future Rolls-Royce cars. In that sense, Rolls-Royce expects to move to an all-electric lineup by 2030, and, unlike fellow ultra-luxury brand Bentley, intends to make the transition directly from internal combustion to electric, with no plans for a hybrid in between.

The Rolls-Royce Spectre will not be based on any current BMW model, but will likely benefit from the BMW Group's development of powertrains for the BMW iX, perhaps using a powerplant from the top-of-the-line iX xDrive M60. It may even see the application of fuel-cell electric vehicle technology, such as that developed for the BMW X5 Hydrogen prototype model.