Even Rolls-Royce Turns To Discounts To Sell The Spectre EV

Ultra-luxury companies like Rolls-Royce are so elite, they don’t advertise, and they certainly don’t provide discounts – unless they’re trying to sell electric vehicles. Goodwood was offering a $7,500 lease credit on its Spectre EV during the month of September, and now, according to a dealer bulletin obtained by CarsDirect, it’s offering a $5,000 lease credit, available until November 30. The deal applies to 2025 and 2026 Spectre model years, with the former working out to a money factor of 0.00190, equivalent to 4.6% APR financing, and although the discount is tiny for a car that costs around $400,000 before options, it’s a sign that EV sales aren’t as high as expected. For the record, the high cost of the luxury coupe means it never qualified for the now-cancelled $7,500 federal EV tax credit when being purchased, but it was eligible as a lease. If even Rolls-Royce is struggling to get electric cars off its showroom floors, one can’t help but wonder how much success Jaguar’s constantly delayed EV will have, but that’s another story.

Rolls-Royce Spectre Performance

The Rolls-Royce Spectre boasts a 102 kWh battery pack from which a pair of BMW-sourced separately excited synchronous motors draw, giving the all-wheel-drive coupe 577 hp and 664 lb-ft of torque. 0-60 mph is claimed to take just 3.7 seconds, while the top speed of the 6,300-pound EV is limited to 155 mph, but drive calmly enough, and the drag coefficient of 0.25 contributes to an EPA estimate of 266 miles of range on a charge. That figure applies to models equipped with 23-inch wheels, but if you’re willing to sacrifice on style, 22-inch wheels can give you up to 291 miles between charges. On a DC charger, the Spectre is capable of recharging at up to 195 kW, bringing the battery from 10-80% in as little as 34 minutes.

An Unrivaled Interior Experience

As an all-electric vehicle, the Spectre was always going to be quiet, but when there’s no engine to drown out wind and tire noise, those sounds can be bothersome. The solution? 1,543 pounds of acoustic insulation. The Spectre’s peerless cabin is also uplifted by some 5,500 illuminated “stars” in the passenger-side fascia of the dashboard, and along with Rolls-Royce’s typical Starlight headliner, Starlight Doors create an even more magical experience with another 4,796 illuminated dots. Not impressed? The Cadillac Celestiq aims to be a contender in the same space, but it’s now even more expensive than the Rolls. Until Bentley’s first EV arrives – and that will be a crossover – there’s nothing else that comes close.