Rolls-Royce Starlight Headliner: The Story Behind the Automotive Wonder

The Rolls-Royce Goodwood plant is a 42-acre site, employing a workforce of over 1,700 people. Considering that Rolls-Royce builds its cars by hand, the presence of a large number of employees makes perfect sense. They are engineers, designers, technicians, electricians, painters. But most of them could easily be referred to as "artisans."

The Starlight Headliner debuted in 2007 in the Phantom luxury sedan. Seventeen years ago, it came with 800 lights. Right now, the starred sky of the Rolls-Royce models integrates no fewer than 1,340 lights, extending from the rear window to the windshield.

From the leather seats on board, a gaze at the "sky" above brings a whole constellation inside the cabin, with stars twinkling in the dark.

Rolls-Royce could use robots to carry out such tasks. It would be faster, simpler, and error-free. But they know that is not the spirit of the brand. Instead, they hire individuals with an obsession for details and perfection to do the job. With all the risks it involves.

But how is Rolls-Royce doing it? How do they get this starred sky effect in a car? And where did this idea come from?

Patience is, indeed, a virtue at Rolls-Royce

The answer is simple. Talented craftsmen and women do everything by hand with infinite patience. And it does take patience to fit every single fiber optic strand into perforations. The strands are fitted at varying depths and at different angles, thus making the light come out in multiple directions and at various levels of intensity.

Those on board can control the brightness and colors of the stars depending on their mood. They can either make it intense enough to allow them to read or reduce it down to an intimate ambiance.

In fact, this is how the idea of the starlight headliner came to life. A Rolls-Royce customer who was suffering from photophobia, which is an extreme sensitivity to light, was only able to enjoy reading the daily newspaper under the starlight on his ranch.

He requested the luxury carmaker to develop a similar ambiance for his car so he could read on board. In 2006, the customer received his Rolls-Royce with 800 "stars."

There aren't two constellations alike in two different Rolls-Royces. Each of them is unique. And each of them takes nine whole hours to craft. However, in case the customer has a special request for a customized headliner, the work can stretch over 17 long hours.

Rolls-Royce refers to this stage of car manufacturing as the perfect alliance of traditional craftsmanship and modern-day technology.

Everything starts with perforating leather. There are between 800 and 1,600 perforations. Those working on every project know the exact number. There is no room for error. By hand, they insert fiber optic lights into the created holes.

Then, they have to make sure that the height of the fibers is correct on the concealed side. They must also be perfectly set on the visible leather surface. If they are fixed in the correct position, they are ready to shine.

The Celestial Phantom was the most exclusive Rolls-Royce of its time

There was once a special Starlight Headliner that decorated the headliner of what Rolls-Royce elegantly called back then the Celestial Phantom.

Its name and design are inspired by the configuration of the stars above Goodwood on the night the Rolls-Royce Phantom was unveiled. That was January 1, 20023, at midnight, when the then-new Phantom was handed over to its owner.

The lining integrates over 1,000 hand-woven fiber optic lights. Four hundred forty-six diamonds, all of them set by hand, decorate the door-capping, center console lid, and partition wall.

For years, the Celestial Phantom was labeled as the most exclusive Rolls-Royce after its official presentation in 2013 at the Frankfurt International Motor Show.

The Coat of Arms is in the lights

Customization has no limitation in the Rolls-Royce models as long as customers respect the brand’s principles and don't ask for anything outrageous. Velvet, marble, diamonds, and gold. You name it, they can put it in the car.

Rolls-Royce has a jeweler on the team who can handle special requests. The look and the feel of every material on board have to be impeccable. That is why they double-check the fitting and texture of every component.

There was once a customer who wanted the lights to be set in the shape of this coat of arms. Rolls-Royce instantly complied.

Another client requested for the configuration of the "stars" to represent the Ursa Major and Minor constellations. Then, there was another who wanted the Rolls-Royce logo to light up separately from the rest of the stars in the headliner.