Rolls-Royce Updates Spirit of Ecstasy Hood Ornament with Aero in Mind

• The new Spirit of Ecstasy is nearly 20 mm smaller than the current ornament and features a slightly different pose to help it better beat the air.

• The new hood ornament helps the upcoming Spectre achieve a 0.26 coefficient of drag, making it the most aerodynamic Rolls-Royce ever.

• Will the Spectre EV be the first Rolls-Royce to fly the new figure when it launches late next year?

Rolls-Royce admirers probably aren’t taken aback by sleek aerodynamic design or highly efficient powertrains, but instead by the brand's luxury and over-the-top opulence.

With the slow pivot to electrification, the folks at Rolls-Royce are gearing up for its all-electric Spectre (on sale late next year) and are paying painstaking attention to detail. The design and engineering teams are so concerned about the upcoming EV’s efficiency that the legendary Rolls-Royce “Spirit of Ecstasy” gets a modern update in the name of cheating wind.

Updating the Spirit of Ecstasy might not seem like a huge deal until you consider that the gleaming bauble is going to constantly disrupt the air, which means drag that will hurt the Spectre’s upcoming range. With 830 hours of wind tunnel testing and modeling, the new Spirit of Ecstasy doesn’t penalize the Spectre too much.

This Spirit is scaled down from the previous generation, standing 82.73 mm tall compared with 100.01 mm for the current Spirit of Ecstasy. Plus, the team reshaped the Spirit’s robes to smooth out the aerodynamic profile and repositioned the ornament’s legs to make the base narrower.

With the updated Spirit of Ecstasy, Rolls-Royce says the Spectre boasts a drag coefficient of 0.26, certainly an improvement over other Rolls-Royce models. Sleeker EVs—such as the Tesla Model S, Porsche Taycan, and Audi e-tron GT—are more aerodynamically slippery, but the upcoming Spectre does best the Ford Mustang Mach-E.

Of course, the team at Rolls-Royce is still working on the Spectre, and that drag number could improve. For instance, current Rolls-Royce models allow the driver to lower the hood ornament to protect it from vandals. Could a Rolls driver hypermile with the hood ornament hidden during long drives?

Rolls-Royce doesn’t mention when this new Spirit will hit the assembly line, but we’re expecting it to debut on the Spectre's nose, particularly because it was designed with the new model in mind.

Do you think the new Spirit of Ecstasy lives up to its legacy? Or will Rolls-Royce fans be deflated by the smaller hood ornament? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.