- Rolls-Royce reveals origin of Black Badge ahead of announcement on 28 October
- Black Badge channels the subversive spirits of founders C. S. Rolls and Sir Henry Royce
- Black Badge responds to the demands of a new class of disruptors and visionaries
- Design and engineering execution challenges established assumptions about the brand
- Black Badge motor cars now represent 27% of Rolls-Royce product commissions
“Rolls-Royce has always attracted a unique breed of outliers, visionaries and iconoclasts. We are proud to provide these men and women with a perfectly engineered canvas upon which they can express a subversive and confident projection of their success.
“Black Badge represents a natural evolution for a brand that is defined by a culture of collaboration with its clients. Black Badge is not a sub-brand. It is an attitude that represents an authentic and confident response to the desires of a new group of clients who proudly practise bold self-expression.” – Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
At 13:00 BST on 28 October 2021, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars will announce a new product in the brand’s portfolio. The marque reveals an unexpected history of subversion within Rolls-Royce, including the creation of Rolls-Royce’s alter ego: Black Badge – which now account for 27% of Rolls-Royce commissions worldwide.
A SUBVERSIVE HERITAGE
Rebellion is not a new concept at Rolls-Royce. The very foundations of the company represent a wilful challenge to what was perceived to be possible – or even polite – as founders Sir Henry Royce and C. S. Rolls both rejected the destiny of their births. Royce ascended from humble beginnings to become an engineering giant, creating motor cars for and with the gentry. Rolls, an aristocrat, wore white-tie spattered with oil to grand Cambridge University occasions, earning him the moniker ‘Dirty Rolls’.
Today, ‘disruptor’ has become the popular label for those who refuse to adhere to established conventions. This attribute has made fortunes, slain great institutions and even challenged the very notion of currency. Had the term existed in the early 20th century, Rolls and Royce would have been among the era’s arch-disruptors. Through an agonising pursuit of perfection, they proved that a car could credibly replace the reliability and frugality of a horse and carriage.
A TRULY CONTEMPORARY MOVEMENT
At Rolls-Royce, colour palettes that deferred to heritage were replaced with a darker aesthetic that communicated presence without distracting from the motor car’s silhouette. While black products have reflected a traditional code of luxury, Rolls-Royce’s designers now work to subvert it through the injection of bold colour with the noir mood of Black Badge.
For the first time, a Bespoke response to changing customer demand was expressed with equal weight by the engineering team as by the design collective. These new individuals sought more immediacy and dynamism. Rolls-Royce responded with uprated power, brakes, suspension and by allowing into the interior suite a little more of the aural character of the V12 powertrain.
