PHANTOM AT 100: ROLLS-ROYCE REFLECTS ON PLACES AND MOMENTS THAT SHAPED PHANTOM’S FIRST CENTURY – AutoMart Canada

• Rolls-Royce celebrates locations and moments that influenced
  Phantom’s evolution
• A 100-year odyssey, taking in Côte d’Azur, London, Sussex and the
  Australian Outback
• Highlights key individuals and landmarks in Phantom’s technical development

 

“Phantom has always been defined by the people who commission it,
and the places in which they use it. As an exemplar of excellence,
Phantom has inhabited and been influenced by locations worldwide,
from the glamorous Côte d’Azur to the peaceful Sussex countryside,
and from the bustling heart of London to the vast wilderness of the
Australian Outback. Each stage in this 100-year odyssey has shaped
Phantom’s character and helped secure its place in cultural history.
As we mark Phantom’s centenary, we reflect on some of the most
important places, events and people that have made our pinnacle
motor car everything it is today, and informed a new and
extraordinary Bespoke creation soon to be revealed.”

Chris Brownridge, Chief Executive, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

The story of Phantom spans 100 years, and the entire
world. Today, Phantom owners can be found in over 100 countries on six
continents, with each individual motor car commissioned to satisfy
both its owner’s personal tastes and codes of luxury, and the specific
conditions and surroundings in which it operates.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars reflects on some of the key locations,
moments and people that have shaped Phantom’s development and
philosophy from its launch in 1925 to the present day.

LE RAYOL-CANADEL-SUR-MER: ENGINEERING AN ICON

From 1911 until his death in 1933, Sir Henry Royce
spent the winter months in the South of France, at a secluded retreat
on the Côte d’Azur. He initially stayed at Claude Johnson’s villa,
until Villa Mimosa was completed in 1917; Royce used this location to
test and refine many Rolls-Royces, including the first motor car to
bear the Phantom nameplate.

The combination of high-speed cruising from England to France
and the Riviera’s sweeping, cinematic corniches provided the ultimate
environment for assessment and improvement. From Villa Mimosa, Royce
obsessively refined Phantom to deliver an experience as singular then
as it is today: the effortless command of immense power.

The influence of Sir Henry’s winter residence is enshrined in
modern materials used by the marque, including Canadel interior wood
panelling, and Duality Twill bamboo fabric inspired by the extensive
groves in Le Jardin des Méditerranées, which adjoins Villa Mimosa.

WEST WITTERING: THE QUIET PURSUIT OF PERFECTION

In the warmer months, Sir Henry returned from France
to Elmstead, his beloved home in the village of West Wittering on the
Sussex coast. Just eight miles from the present-day Home of
Rolls-Royce, Elmstead remains a place of pilgrimage for enthusiasts,
providing a personal and emotional connection to one of the founders
that resonates throughout the company today.

As he had done at Villa Mimosa, Royce set up a separate studio
nearby for his team of designers and engineers. Although the
Rolls-Royce factory was halfway across the country in Derby, Royce
still insisted on signing off every new component personally, so motor
cars arrived almost daily to be inspected, adjusted and approved
before returning. Each journey was a round trip of over 400 miles, and
some of these same roads are still used by the marque’s test and
development specialists to this day.

Alongside Elmstead, Royce acquired 60 acres of land, where he
devoted himself to agriculture and horticulture with characteristic
zeal and almost obsessive attention to detail; qualities that extended
even to his leisure pursuits. A skilled engineering draughtsman, Royce
also became a highly accomplished watercolourist. His exquisite
studies of scenes in West Wittering and Le Canadel still provide
inspiration for Rolls-Royce designers seeking to immerse themselves in
his world.

LONDON: A CENTURY OF INFLUENCE

For all its global reach, London remains Phantom’s
spiritual home. For much of the twentieth century, Rolls-Royce was
based at 14-15 Conduit Street, near Savile Row in London’s fashionable
Mayfair, where Charles Rolls had established one of Britain’s first
car showrooms in 1905. Here, Rolls conducted demonstration drives of
early motor cars and met clients from London’s social elite. The
building’s role in automotive history was commemorated by English
Heritage in 2010 with a Blue Plaque, unveiled by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu.

London also played a pivotal role in Phantom’s renaissance. In
the late 1990s, the marque’s designers established a secret studio in
a former bank building on the north side of Hyde Park. In what was
known simply as ‘The Bank’, a handpicked team, led by Chief Designer
Ian Cameron, worked on a secret project codenamed RR01.

Cameron and his team’s brief was simple, but enormously
ambitious: to create a new Rolls-Royce from a blank sheet of paper.
They were given only three stipulations: the car should have very
large wheels, the famous Pantheon Grille and, of course, the Spirit of
Ecstasy mascot.

Chief Exterior Designer Marek Djordjevic turned to designs from
the past for inspiration. A coachbuilt Phantom II from the early 1930s
would prove the most influential, providing the design elements that
still inform every Goodwood-era Rolls-Royce – most notably the famous
‘waft line’, rising from rear to front along the lower edge of the
body, reminiscent of a motor yacht at speed.

AUSTRALIA: A NEW ERA BEGINS

The first Goodwood Phantom made its global debut on 1
January 2003, where it was handed over to its new owner at exactly
00:01. The delighted client wished to immerse themselves in this grand
and contemporary expression of the marque, and so began a 4,500-mile
journey from Perth across the Australian continent. It was an
audacious statement – and a bold demonstration that Phantom had not
only returned, but was ready to define a new era of global luxury
travel. In a fitting full-circle moment, that very same Phantom
returned to the Home of Rolls-Royce in August 2025 – Phantom’s
centenary year – to undergo a detailed inspection by the marque’s engineers.

102EX: AN ELECTRIC VISION

Following Phantom’s highly successful market
introduction, engineers within Rolls-Royce began thinking about the
marque’s longer-term future. Reflecting the Rolls-Royce’s visionary
spirit, a small team considered a wide range of powertrains that would
be suitable for the brand’s electric future and amplify the qualities
clients celebrated about their Rolls-Royce.

In 2011, Rolls-Royce revealed 102EX, also known as the Phantom
Experimental Electric (EE): a fully electric Phantom. Though never
intended for production, this experimental motor car offered the first
glimpse of how the brand might harness battery-electric technology to
elevate the wider Rolls-Royce experience. It marked the beginning of a
bold electric journey – one that would carry the marque into the
present day, and beyond.

THE FUTURE OF PHANTOM, TOLD THROUGH ITS LEGACY


Phantom’s remarkable history remains a constant source of
inspiration within Rolls-Royce. The centenary year of this nameplate,
celebrated in 2025, offers a fitting moment to honour the individuals
and ideas that have shaped Phantom’s first 100 years. From
world-renowned artists to musical pioneers, Phantom has been chosen by
those who truly shape our world. It has served monarchs, statesmen and
captains of industry – and, above all, remains a tribute to the vision
of the marque’s founders, Charles Rolls and Sir Henry Royce.

Across generations, Phantom has revealed its unique breadth and
brilliance – as a studio, stage, state room and gallery. These stories
will soon be brought together in a landmark Bespoke motor car that
captures Phantom’s singular legacy, honours an extraordinary
milestone, and represents the continuation of one of the most
illustrious journeys in automotive history.

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