Rolls-Royce Dawn, Wraith axed ahead of Spectre unveiling

The Rolls-Royce Dawn and Rolls-Royce Wraith will exit production in 2023 and are already unavailable for order, company boss Torsten Muller-Otvos has confirmed.

• The Dawn and Wraith have reached the end of their production run
• Spectre electric coupe due in 2023
• Rolls-Royce largely unaffected by Ukraine crisis

Both cars – the Dawn, a two-door convertible, and the Wraith, a two-door coupe – have reached the end of their scheduled production runs and will not be directly replaced as the firm focuses its self-funded resources on the development of the Spectre two-door electric coupe, which is due in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Rolls-Royce Dawn, Wraith: orders closed

Muller-Otvos said that orders for the two-door pair have now closed for all markets – having previously been taken off sale in the US – yet, the nature of the firm’s orders and waiting list mean that it would be early 2023 before the final Wraith and Dawn models roll off its Goodwood production line.

"While not a direct replacement for the Wraith, the Spectre would play the role of a coupe in the company’s range from now on," said Muller-Otvos.

Rolls-Royce insiders say the firm could have made an all-electric version of one of its existing models for its first EV, but it was important that such a car had an identity of its own and offered something unique to the Rolls-Royce range rather than being a powertrain option of an existing car.

Rolls-Royce Spectre: a worthy successor

Rolls-Royce instead views the Spectre as a belated successor to the coupe version of the seventh-generation Rolls-Royce Phantom, with the pair sharing a similar footprint and the Spectre, therefore, having its own distinct positioning within the Rolls-Royce range.

On more day-to-day matters, Muller-Otvos said that the firm would be able to divert production of its models reserved for Russia, to other markets, before the block on exports to the country. Remarkably, he added that the wiring harnesses Rolls-Royce sources for its engines from a factory in the west of Ukraine had already restarted production, having had to stop earlier after the Russian invasion, and as such, production was unaffected.