Helpfully, all current Rolls-Royce cars, including the Spectre, are based on the same fundamental Architecture of Luxury skeleton, which means many of the fixed points and dimensions are shared across model lines. It all aids in this relentless pursuit of flexibility.
This Spectre is one of the first customer cars to be built, production having started just days before we visit. One of several ordered by early adopters when Rolls-Royce announced it was developing an EV in September 2021, it is now just five days away from reaching the hallowed ‘F2’ point, at which a car is deemed ready for handover to the distribution network.
That can mean it’s loaded onto a car transporter on site, a ship at Southampton or – this being Rolls-Royce – a chartered jet for delivery to its excited owner.
After ‘finger two’, where the car is “90% finished” with the fitment of its headliner, dashboard, interior, trim, doors and windscreens, it is rotated 90deg to rejoin the main line. “This is probably the biggest area that had to be adjusted to be able to cope with electrification,” explains Denton.
This is the ‘hanger line’, where each car is picked up by a gigantic, ceiling-mounted cradle, to be shuffled along the final stages before it finally receives the wheels and motors it needs to move under its own power.