[imagesource: Rolls-Royce]

With our affordability, intense heat, and myriad terrains -potholes very much included – testing luxury cars in South Africa just makes sense.

That’s why Rolls-Royce rolled in with its new electric prototype, the Spectre, which debuted in October last year.

I guess the car-makers didn’t exactly consider that we’re frequently plagued by bouts of no electricity, though.

Nevertheless, they seem to have made a plan as the all-electric super Coupé has already covered nearly 1,243 million miles (two million kilometres) of testing across the south of France, the Arctic Circle, and all over South Africa.

The Spectre is currently undergoing extreme hot weather tests in two locations in South Africa: Augrabies in the Northern Cape and Franschhoek, the ‘French Corner’ in the Western Cape Winelands.

Image: Rolls-Royce

Per SAPeople, Rolls-Royce says the two SA locations provide an ideal contrast between dry and humid heat, with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees at times, providing some of the finest summer-weather driving in the world.

Image: Rolls-Royce

AutoJosh notes that the Spectre completed the second phase of the most rigorous testing programme ever devised in the marque’s 118-year history:

During this third phase of testing, Rolls-Royce engineers will observe and refine every system, hardware item and software protocol that has been developed over the course of almost two million kilometres of continuous testing.

It already tested the extreme cold of the Arctic Circle and rode around the south of France, where Rolls-Royce’s test and development engineers focused on the motor car’s general use.

Image: Rolls-Royce

Torsten Müller-Ötvös, CEO of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, says this “remarkable and transformative motor car represents the beginning of the marque’s bold electric era”:

“The reason for our extraordinary and restless global testing process is simple : there has never been a motor car like Spectre before. As the first all-electric Rolls-Royce, Spectre represents not just a new paradigm in our technology, but the entire future direction of our brand”, Also commenting, Dr. Mihiar Ayoubi, Director of Engineering, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, added.

Rolls-Royce says that Spectre testing is about 80% complete with the final phase, Lifestyle Analysis, set to drive the EV the way a buyer would drive normally, including in global megacities.

Image: Rolls-Royce

We can expect to see Spectre in dealerships worldwide by the end of the year.

As for price, it will likely be priced between the $350 000 Cullinan SUV and the $460 000 Phantom sedan.

[sources:sapeople&autojosh]