Mercedes-Benz has the Black Series while Audi has the Black Edition. Rolls-Royce is calling theirs the Black Badge, and the third spawn within the lineup is the Rolls-Royce Dawn Black Badge.
This is after the “Black Badged” Phantom and Wraith of course, and it’s targeted to appeal to the younger market. Remember, Rolls-Royce did say that the Dawn is the “most glamorous, uncompromising expression of open-top luxury.”
Separating this Dawn Black Badge from the standard is the exclusive solid black paintwork. RR says they took many painstaking hours of painting and polishing process to create the deepest, darkest and most intense black to ever grace a production car surface.
The roof canvas is black, with the rear deck now clothed in black leather. The high-gloss black chrome finishing is applied to the front grille, exhaust pipes and even Spirit of Ecstasy. Inside, it’s an all-black leather special with a strip of orange highlights complemented by an aluminium threaded carbon composite trim.
The Dawn Black Badge also receives a bump in performance. Its 6.6-litre twin-turbocharged V12 engine has been given an extra boost of 30 hp and 20 Nm of torque, bringing the final output to 601 hp and 840 Nm. The century sprint now takes 4.9 seconds, an improvement of 0.1 seconds over the standard Dawn. Top speed remains electronically limited to 250 km/h.
The gearbox has also been retuned for quicker downshifts and the steering rack reworked for better feedback. Also improved here is the suspension which gives better high speed stability without compromising ride quality. Lastly, a new exhaust is fitted to produce what Rolls-Royce calls “menacing bass-baritone“.
The Rolls-Royce Dawn Black Badge will be featured at the Goodwood Festival of Speed that’s happening this weekend. No pricing has been revealed, but the standard Dawn is sold from RM4 million in Malaysia.
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