Rolls-Royce Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow Marks End Of V12 Coupe’s Production

• Rolls-Royce Wraith Black Badge Black Arrow Collection is the final Wraith iteration. 

• Black Arrow Collection gets bespoke yellow detailing inspired by the 1930’s land-speed record-breaking Thunderbolt car. 

• Other additions include a record-breaking Starlight headliner, Club Leather interiors and Gradient colour-changing exterior paint. 

• Powered by a 624PS, 6.6-litre V12 petrol engine, the carmaker’s most powerful V12 yet. 

• Limited to just 12 cars that have already been spoken for by well-heeled people around the world. 

Rolls-Royce is almost synonymous with the V12 engine, but an electric era is approaching fast. It’s the end of the road for the Wraith coupe, and the carmaker is commemorating its splendid ten-year run with the final edition of the Wraith coupe, called the Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow Collection. It’s inspired by the Thunderbolt, an eight-wheeled “car” that broke the land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in the 1930s.

Rolls-Royce Wraith Black Arrow Collection 

The exquisite detailing shows up at first glance – the Wraith Black Arrow has Gradient paint that changes from silver to a metallic black, depending on the angle from which the car is seen. The glass-infused paint is supposed to look a bit like the crystalline salt flats where the Thunderbolt set its speed record. The painted bodywork is polished for over 12 hours to achieve a glass finish, according to Rolls. 

Apart from the magic paintwork, the limited-edition Wraith also gets yellow detailing on its front bumper, wheels and even on the blacked-out Spirit of Ecstasy emblem, similar to the Thunderbolt car. 

Artsy on the inside 

Inside, the Wraith Black Arrow gets the most detailed star-spangled headliner the carmaker has ever used. It has 2,117 fibre-optic strands, or stars, all arranged meticulously to provide a view of the Milky Way Galaxy, with the stars arranged as they would have been on the night the Thunderbolt set its land speed record in 1938. Attention to detail pro max! 

Moreover, the dashboard trim piece is a bespoke work of art featuring the V12 engine, engraved on a single sheet of black-coated aluminium. Open-pore black wood lines the Black Arrow’s doors, featuring an intricate pattern of over 320 pieces of coloured wood that makes the door trims look like the cracked salt flats of Utah. 

The rest of the interior is upholstered in shiny “Club Leather” – a personal preference of Captain George Eyston, the driver of the record-breaking Thunderbolt. 

What was the Thunderbolt? 

The Thunderbolt was an aero-inspired, eight-wheeler vehicle built for breaking land-speed records by Captain George Eyston. It was powered by two Rolls-Royce “R” Series V12 engines used in aircraft applications. On September 16, 1938, the Thunderbolt broke the land-speed record by clocking a speed of just over 575kmph. 

Since that time, specialised, jet-powered vehicles have broken the land speed record many times over, even breaking the sound barrier. However, the Thunderbolt remains the fastest V12-powered vehicle ever built. 

Only fitting for a souped-up, ultra-luxury coupe, wouldn’t you agree? The Wraith Black Badge is powered by only one V12, a 6.6-litre unit making a hulking 624PS. 

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The Rolls-Royce Wraith Black Arrow is a special, bespoke tribute to an important time in the carmaker’s long history; but you can’t have it. Production will be limited to just 12 units, the last 12 units of the Wraith, and all of them have already been spoken for by well-heeled buyers around the world. Later in 2023, Rolls-Royce is expected to launch the two-door, all-electric coupe replacing the Wraith, the Spectre EV, which is expected to debut in late 2023.