
1952 Rolls Royce Silver Dawn – inspiration for the new RR Dawn
Rolls Royce has revealed that the Wraith convertible won’t, as expected, be the Wraith Drophead, but instead will be know as the Rolls Royce Dawn.
When Rolls Royce first revealed the Wraith as a coupe take on the Ghost – with more rakish looks and more driver-focused dynamics – we all knew the next step in the Ghost’s genesis would be a convertible, or, in RR’s parlance, a Drophead.But having eschewed convention by calling the Ghost Coupe the Wraith, they’ve done the same again with the convertible, which will be the Rolls Royce Dawn, not the Wraith Drophead Coupe as we’d reasonably surmised
Still, everything else will be much as expected, with the same 624bhp V12 the coupe boasts, enough to get one of the world’s biggest, and most luxurious, drop-tops to 62mph in a very un-Rolls Royce-like 4.6 seconds.
That said, we rather expect the Dawn to come with less driver-focused dynamics than the Wraith; somehow, it would be almost unseemly for the elegant, aristocratic boulevardier the Dawn looks set to be to hustle instead of waft along the Riviera.
That seems to be borne out by Rolls Royce’s almost esoteric description of the Dawn in their press release. They said:
‘Dawn’ perfectly expresses the character of the new Rolls-Royce. In its tentative, inchoate, anticipatory state, dawn is the world coming to light from the ethereal dark of the night. The early-day chill of dawn provides an erotic tingle on the skin, awakening the senses and passions as the day begins. Like Eleanor Thornton, thought by many to be the inspiration behind the Spirit of Ecstasy, the Rolls-Royce Dawn will also prove itself to be the muse that leads its owner to believe that at the start of the day, anything is possible.
The new Rolls-Royce Dawn is beguilingly visceral. It excites both men and women – they want it, they need it and they want to immerse themselves in it. It is languid and beautiful, fresh and fragrant and awakens the passion of your life.
New life, new possibilities, fresh horizons – a tingling, anticipatory ambience in the air – all signified by a new Dawn.
It doesn’t tell you much about the car. But it does perhaps tell you something about the pretentiousness of RR’s target market; the pitch is certainly not aimed at old money.
The Rolls Royce Dawn will launch early in 2016, so it seems likely we’ll get the first look at the Frankfurt Motor Show in the Autumn.
Related Photos: Rolls Royce Wraith
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Tramp12 says
Inchoate Dawn? Is it getting ready to pull a blag?
Cars UK says
Actually, the legal use was the only one we knew without looking it up. Turns out inchoate also means not fully formed. It also means incoherent. Take your pick.