Electric Rolls-Royce Spectre continues testing on French Riviera
The all-electric Rolls Royce Spectre has taken to the French Riviera as the luxury coupé continues its 2.5-million-kilometre testing programme.
Earlier this year, at a bespoke testing facility in Arjeplog, Sweden – just 55 kilometres from the Arctic Circle – Spectre completed its extreme winter testing programme, where the electric luxury coupé received the first ‘lessons’ in a finishing school that is custom designed to teach the car how to behave and react like a Rolls-Royce.
Over the past months, test and development engineers have shifted their focus from extreme conditions to more formal scrutiny in a location that reflects the car’s everyday use: the French Riviera.
According to Rolls Royce, the French Riviera and its roads present a perfect combination of the types of conditions that will be demanded from Spectre’s clients, ranging from technical coastal corniches to faster inland carriageways.
Forming a crucial part of Spectre’s 2.5 million kilometre global testing programme, a total of 625,000 kilometres will be driven on and around the French Côte d’Azur. This phase is split into two parts, beginning at the historic Autodrome de Miramas proving ground, located in the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône in Provence. Once a circuit that played host to the 1926 Grand Prix, the site is now a state-of-the-art test and development facility, incorporating more than 60 kilometres of closed routes and 20 test track environments that provide a vast number of testing opportunities over its 1,198 acre footprint.
These include irrigation units that create standing water, demanding handling circuits with tight corners and adverse cambers, as well as a heavily banked 3.1 mile three-lane high-speed bowl, enabling Spectre to be tested at continuous high speeds.
The second phase of testing in the region occurs in the Provençal countryside surrounding the Autodrome de Miramas. This region will see a significant 55% of testing take place on the very roads that many production Spectres will be driven on following first customer deliveries in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, said: “It is no exaggeration to state that Spectre is the most anticipated Rolls-Royce ever. Free from the restrictions connected to the internal combustion engine, our battery-electric vehicle will offer the purest expression of the Rolls-Royce experience in the marque’s 118-year history. This latest testing phase proves a suite of advanced technologies that underpin a symbolic shift for Rolls-Royce as it progresses towards a bright, bold, all-electric future. This will secure the ongoing relevance of our brand for generations to come.”
