Following a seven-year production run, the final Dawn has been assembled by Rolls-Royce at its factory in Goodwood. The announcement comes a little over a month since the convertible’s coupe sibling, the Wraith, received a Black Arrow special edition serving as the last hurrah. Both two-door vehicles are being indirectly replaced by the new Spectre, a longer and wider EV.
According to Rolls-Royce, the Dawn’s demise “signals the end of a glorious, glamorous era” as the model has gone down in history as the brand’s best-selling drophead. It was originally unveiled in 2015 at the Frankfurt Motor Show as a direct successor to the Phantom Drophead Coupe. The standard model had the majestic V12 dialed to 563 hp and 820 Nm (605 lb-ft) of torque before the Black Badge arrived in 2017 with 593 hp and 840 Nm (620 lb-ft).
Of the 6,021 cars sold by Rolls-Royce during a record-breaking 2022, the Dawn and Wraith represented 10% of total shipments, with the flagship Phantom accounting for the same percentage. 30% of all vehicles delivered last year were the Ghost, with all the others being the Cullinan SUVs. On average, RR customers spent €500,000 on their cars last year compared to “only” €200,000 in 2014.
The Spectre is picking up where the Wraith left off, and time will tell whether the electric coupe will get a folding top to fill the void left after the Dawn’s discontinuation. In the meantime, the EV with the fixed metal roof will be handed over to the first customers in the final quarter of the year. A potential Spectre convertible will not be the BMW Group’s first EV with a folding roof as that title has already been given to the MINI Cooper SE Convertible.
With the Dawn going away, another V12 model bites the dust. Rolls-Royce has already announced it’ll morph into an all-electric brand by the end of the decade. MINI will follow suit shortly thereafter, while BMW has yet to announce a cutoff date for the combustion engine.
Source: Rolls-Royce
