Small things make perfection, but perfection is not a small thing. It’s one of the quote from Sir Henry Royce, one of the founder of British luxury carmaker, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. The marquee has taken this mantra very seriously, especially when developing the recently launched new Rolls-Royce Ghost. It has been in dialogue with thousands of its customers worldwide on what they like and wanted to improve, including from the Asian market.
“We are very fortunate because we have a very open dialogue with certain key customers that very much like to involved with us in terms of the ownership experience, so that we can get clear and quick feedback on what customers love and what customers want to improve,” Jonathan Simms, Engineering Lead, New Ghost, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars says in a skype interview.
Jon is Project Leader for New Ghost at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, managing all functions within the project team to launch the new benchmark motor car. He has worked with Rolls-Royce for 13 years and involved in all recent launches. Jon was also previously a Total Vehicle Validation Manager and Product Integration Manager, responsible for vehicle development and testing, as well as the technical integration of new models into Goodwood. Privately, Jon is also an automotive enthusiast, with active involvement in classic and modern cars and motorcycles.
According to Jon, there are some areas of the car that inspired directly from the feedback from the Asian market, especially some colour, trim, and design features of the vehicle. One of the thing that Jon wanted to be able to design from the early stage was the ability to have a clean and modern two-tone for the exterior of the car.
“Many of Asian customers love the aesthetic of the two-tone, the two-color exterior of the car, so this was something we want to design the car with that in mind and that something we put into the development process,” Jon says.
The brand also finds that many of its Asian customers tend to go towards the rear seat compartment and often uses the entertainment system. With that in mind, Rolls-Royce engaged its customers in dialogue whatever to incorporate a vast number of new features pr just modernizing the system and focus on core features related to the car.
The customers opt to have an entertainment system that is clean and simple to use, as often a new car has too many features and is not user friendly.
“We have concentrated on bringing up to date system that is not removable, it’s not a system that offers 101 features that you have in your smartphone anyways, it’s a system that focuses on an effortless interface to the vehicle, and that is one the key areas with feedback from our Asian Customers,” Jon says.
To support the entertainment system, the New Ghost has a completely redesigned audio system. It has a powerful amplifier that controls 18 channels (one for each speaker), providing a 1300W output. Aside from conventional cone-type speakers, the New Ghost also has some exciter speakers that bonded into the starlight headliner that transforms that car’s ceiling into a large speaker.
“It provides an immersive and 360 degrees sound, delivering an excellent sound stage,” Jon says.
The recently launched car is the most advanced model yet from the marquee, with all the finest technologies and innovations. It uses the modular aluminium chassis that used in the Phantom and the Cullinan, all-wheel steering, and the world first planar suspension system that enhances the brand’s signature magic carpet ride.
The first car will arrive in Indonesia late of October or November depends on the manufacturing schedule and homologation.
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