I have a Rolls-Royce and I want to paint it black

Rolls-Royce has made its new-generation Ghost available in a Black Badge execution.

Eschewing the luxury British marque’s traditional chrome-clad aesthetic, Black Badge is the edgier alter ego of Rolls-Royce.

This darker, more sinister execution is aimed at disrupters and risk takers and is chosen by 27% of Rolls-Royce customers. Black Badge made its debut with Wraith and Ghost in 2016, followed by Dawn in 2017 then Cullinan in 2019, and it’s become available on the new Ghost a year after its launch — in which time it’s become one of the fastest-selling products in the marque’s history and sold 3,500 units worldwide.

Clients are free to select any of the marque’s 44,000 “ready-to-wear” colours or create their own bespoke hue. However, the overwhelming majority of customers who requested this darker expression of Ghost have selected the signature Black, says Rolls-Royce.

To create what is said to be the motor industry’s darkest black, 45kg of paint is used to create a high-gloss piano finish. The Spirit of Ecstasy mascot and pantheon grille are also darkened, and as in the standard Ghost the grille is illuminated with 152 LED lights.

The exterior treatment is finished off with bespoke 21-inch composite wheels with 44 layers of carbon fibre.

Inside the cabin, the noir ambience is created by darkened surfaces, including a black-faced clock and a dashboard with a diamond pattern weave in carbon and metallic fibres. Instead of chrome, the air vents are darkened using physical vapour deposition which won’t tarnish over time.

Clients can specify the Technical Fibre “Waterfall” section of the individual rear seats in the Black Badge family motif: the mathematical symbol that represents potential infinity known as a Lemniscate. Made of aerospace-grade aluminium on the lid of the champagne cooler, it is applied between layers of tinted lacquer to look as if the symbol is floating above the veneer.

The Illuminated Fascia on the passenger side of the dashboard displays an ethereal glowing Lemniscate, surrounded by more than 850 stars. It has a twinkling effect, echoing the subtle sparkle of the Shooting Star starlight headliner.

Not every part of the cabin is in Darth Vader’s favourite colour, and customers can choose colourful contrasting trim on the seats, doors and dashboard as shown in these pictures.

The cosmetic makeover is accompanied by a tweaked chassis including sharpened brakes. Larger air springs are fitted for less body roll in hard cornering, but without affecting the typical magic-carpet ride in gentler direction changes.

An extra 21kW and 50Nm are squeezed from the twin-turbo 6.75l V12 engine for a total of 441kW and 900Nm. A new exhaust system makes a subtly more aggressive sound.

Transmission duty is performed by an eight-speed automatic with a “Low” mode — the Rolls equivalent of Sport — which applies power up to 50%  quicker and is exclusive to all Black Badge models.

Local Rolls-Royce importer Daytona aims to launch the Ghost Black Badge here in December. Prices are still to be announced but, as usual, if you have to ask...