BEYOND THE BEST

The second-generation Rolls-Royce Ghost had to somehow improve on the brand’s most successful product. Jon Simms, project leader for the New Ghost, tells us how he did it.

- Wei-Yu Wang

AS PROJECT LEADER for the second generation of Rolls-Royce Ghost, Jon Simms was faced with an intimidating task. After all, the progenitor Ghost was the marque’s most successful car to date, both in terms of sales and feedback. It first hit the road in 2010, packaging the vaunted Rolls-Royce luxury with that of a dynamism unheard of (at the time) for the marque. It ushered in a lucrative era of widened appeal; the Ghost was confirmation that a modern-day Rolls-Royce could just as well be a platform for carbon-fibre trim and sporty rims – if one should be so inclined.

So how do you improve on such a formula, especially when Rolls-Royce cars are already supposed to be as complete as they come? There are a few minor things, like doors that now open under their own power, as well as close. Or the Starlight Headliner interior illumination, previously a Phantom special, that is now available on the New Ghost.

“What we wanted was to genuinely engage with our clients on the areas where they – I wouldn’t even say had a complaint – but where they wanted to dial something slightly up or dial something slightly back,” Simms says. He has since taken up a new role at Goodwood, that of general manager of the Bespoke department, but the New Ghost remains fresh in his mind.