Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII debuts on 27 July – alongside seven famous Historic Phantoms

Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII debuts on 13 July

The Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII, the latest version of Rolls-Royce’s ultimate car, debuts in Mayfair on 27 July alongside seven famous historic Phantom models.

Rather doing anything as prosaic as turning up at the Frankfurt Motor Show to steal the headlines, Rolls-Royce is instead launching a Rolls Royce Exhibition – ‘The Great Eight Phantoms’ – in Mayfair, London, to create their own world stage for the new Phantom’s reveal.

The single exterior image of the new Phantom Rolls-Royce which has been revealed as a tease for the new Phantom (above) doesn’t tell us much – apart from the fact there’s a new interpretation of the iconic grille – and Rolls Royce are keeping their cards close to their chest on specification too.

But we do know the new Phantom will be built on a modular aluminium platform, which will make the new Phantom lighter than the old car, allow flexibility to deliver the Cullinan SUV on the same basic platform and make it far easier to create real one-off models like the Sweptail.

The engine will still be a V12, but it does seem likely the new Phantom will come with a version of the V12 in the Ghost, rather than the current Phantom’s, and a plug-in hybrid version seems almost certain too.

We’ll doubtless get snippets of official specifications over the coming weeks as the new Phantom heads for its debut, as well as details of the famous and historic Phantoms RR is gathering for the launch of the new Phantom, with all seven previous generations on show including the ‘Fred Astaire Phantom I’.