Rolls-Royce Motor Cars will not go fully electric by 2030, its CEO Chris Brownridge told The Times, citing relaxed regulatory and legislative targets by governments around the world and softer customer demand. That marks a clear shift from the brand’s earlier position, when former CEO Torsten Muller-Otvos said at the reveal of the Rolls-Royce Spectre EV in 2022 that the British luxury marque would stop manufacturing cars with V12 engines by the turn of the decade.
- All ICE Rolls-Royce models feature a V12 engine
- Volvo, Bentley, Lamborghini and Porsche have also revised their EV goals
Brownridge said the pledge was right for the time, and it was based on a different set of circumstances, but the scenario has changed since then. “We recognise some clients would rather have a V12 engine. The V12 is part of our history... For every client who loves an electric vehicle, there is one who does not. Some clients do want an EV, [and] we build what is ordered,” Brownridge told the publication.
V12 stays in the line-up
At present, all of Rolls-Royce’s combustion-engine cars use a V12, including the Ghost and Phantom sedans and the Cullinan SUV. Though the brand has dropped the plan to go all-electric by 2030, work is underway on its first electric SUV, expected to debut sometime this year. A prototype of the electric SUV was recently spotted testing in Sweden, confirming blocky and upright proportions similar to those of the Cullinan but with its own styling details.
Several carmakers have changed EV plans
Otvos had earlier set a target for the Spectre to account for 20 percent of annual sales, with that figure rising to 70 percent by 2028. However, a report suggests that the Spectre managed 1,002 units in 2025, marking a 47 percent drop from the 1,890 units sold the previous year. The Cullinan, meanwhile, was Rolls-Royce’s bestseller, clocking 3,291 units in the last calendar year.
With this move, Rolls-Royce joins a growing list of brands revising their vehicle electrification strategies. Volvo has dropped its target of having only electric vehicles on sale by 2030. Even Bentley has pushed its timeline to become an EV-only manufacturer from 2030 to 2035. The Lamborghini Lanzador, which was set to debut as an all-electric SUV, will be a plug-in hybrid instead, and Porsche’s upcoming K1 flagship SUV will also no longer debut as an EV.