The Rolls-Royce Wraith bowed out of the U.S. after 2021, but the car remains on sale elsewhere. Now its production is coming to an end, and Rolls-Royce has a special version to close the chapter on the stunning coupe.
The automaker this week presented the Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow as the final Wraith. It's limited to just 12 examples and confirmed to be the last V-12-powered coupe in the history of Rolls-Royce. The automaker's future is electric, and that future starts later this year with the arrival of the Spectre coupe.
The Black Arrow name comes from the black arrows that were painted on the Thunderbolt land-speed record car of the 1930s, which ran a Rolls-Royce V-12 engine designed for aircraft. While the Thunderbolt was finished in polished aluminum, black arrows were applied to its streamliner body so measuring equipment could accurately spot the car against the white backdrop of the Bonneville Salt Flats where it made its attempts. Those attempts culminated in a record 357.497 mph in 1938.
The Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow stands out with its exterior paint fade, which is a first for Rolls-Royce. It starts with silver at the front and flows into black at the rear. Applying the paint is a complicated process, not least due to the glass-infused layer that is applied to the black section to help create the blur effect. Rolls-Royce said it spent about 18 months of research time to arrive at the correct look.
2023 Rolls-Royce Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow
The designers then added bright yellow accents to provide some contrast, including on the struts mounted between the grille and engine. This extra detail helps draw the eye to the area behind the grille, where the V-12 lurks.
The yellow accents carry into the cabin, where an illuminated element resembling the shape of the Thunderbolt is also mounted in the center console. A drawing of the Wraith's twin-turbo 6.6-liter V-12 also features on the dash above the glovebox.
2023 Rolls-Royce Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow
Other unique touches include the door panels, which are made from 320 marquetry pieces that form a tactile surface, and the placement (by hand) of 2,117 fiber-optic lights in the headliner mimicking the Milky Way and its constellations as it all would have appeared over the Bonneville Salt Flats on the night of the Thunderbolt's record run.
Rolls-Royce said all 12 build slots for the Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow are already sold out.
