When the Phantom VIII launched in Thailand at the Bangkok International Motor Show, it was the most expensive new car the market had seen, priced beyond 50 million baht.

The engine is a 6.75-liter twin-turbo V12: 571 horsepower at 5,000 rpm and 900 Nm from 1,700 rpm, through a ZF eight-speed automatic. 0 to 100 km/h takes 5.4 seconds and top speed is limited to 250 km/h. None of it is meant to be heard. The gearbox uses GPS data to read the road ahead and select the right gear before the corner arrives.

The ride is the point. A stereo camera behind the windshield scans the surface ahead at speeds up to 100 km/h and adjusts the dampers before the wheels reach the imperfection. The tires carry Silent-Seal, a foam layer inside the casing that absorbs road noise before it reaches the cabin.

The signatures are all present: the Spirit of Ecstasy that retracts into the grille, rear coach doors that close electronically, and the Starlight Headliner, in which hundreds of fiber-optic points are woven into the leather ceiling.