Rolls-Royce vehicles are typically associated with owners who are so wealthy that they can pay for a chauffeur to drive them everywhere. They don’t exactly have a reputation for being “drivers” cars (you could say they’re seen more as “riders” cars), but a new wave of customers changed that and led to the introduction of the Rolls-Royce Black Badge sub-brand in 2016.
It was a major demographic shift. New-money clients were buying Rolls-Royces to celebrate their success. According to the automaker, “In the early 2010s, a new generation of entrepreneurs began approaching Rolls-Royce. They had built their success at a young age, frequently leveraging new technologies and platforms to completely reshape industries. They projected their influence unapologetically, demanding exquisitely crafted products and uncompromising experiences, but with a dynamic edge and a defiant attitude that reflected their lives, their ambitions, and their daring. Their taste defined new codes of luxury: darker in aesthetic, more assertive in character and bolder in design.”
Rolls-Royce responded with the Black Badge model line, distinguished by new colors, materials, and vehicles designed to be driven by their owners, not chauffeurs. Black Badge models even have their own symbol: ∞ (infinity), which represents “the seemingly endless surge of power delivered by Black Badge-tuned V-12 engines and honours Sir Malcolm Campbell, who piloted the Rolls-Royce-powered Blue Bird K3 hydroplane to a record-breaking 130 mph in the 1930s, carrying the same emblem.”
In addition to engine tuning that unlocks more horsepower and torque, black is a key part of the lineup (and the literal black badges on the cars). Rolls-Royce developed one of the auto industry’s darkest black paints, which is hand-polished to a high-gloss piano finish. For the signature Spirit of Ecstasy and Pantheon grille, the company’s artisans mix a black chrome electrolyte into the chrome plating process.
Several one-offs and special editions of the Black Badge Wraith, Ghost, and Cullinan have been made over the past decade, such as the 2020 “Neon Nights” paint trilogy inspired by exotic plants and animals, and the 2023 Wraith Black Arrow, a run of 12 cars that marked the end of Rolls-Royce’s V12 coupe production.
So what does John Lennon have to do with the Black Badge models? Before his 1964 Phantom V was repainted in psychedelic electric yellow and decorated with flowers, Romany scrolls, and zodiac signs, it was a custom Rolls of a different sort. Built by Mulliner Park Ward, it was delivered with almost everything blacked out, from the rear windows to the leather front and Bedford cord cloth rear seats — except for the Spirit of Ecstasy and Pantheon grille, which Rolls-Royce insisted on being left bright and shiny.
While the 1928 Rolls-Royce 20 H.P. Brewster Brougham is an early example of the Black Badge look, with its black Spirit of Ecstasy and radiator grille, Lennon’s Phantom is the Black Badge’s spiritual ancestor.
