A famous mascot with a murky past has reshaped for a new era.

the new figure, above, and the original design, below.

NELLIE has another new look.

The Spirit of Ecstasy, the figurine that sits on the bonnet edge of every new Rolls-Royce car, has been redesigned, to herald the brand’s shift into the age when its cars will be powered by electricity.

The redesign will feature on the first of those production electric cars, the Spectre, which arrives next year.

This isn't the first update for the mascot, irreverently nicknamed ‘Nellie in her nightie’ when it first appeared in 1914, and since also known as Emily, Eleanor, Silver Lady and Flying Lady.

There have, in fact, been 11 previous figurines. But this time it was done specifically for better aerodynamics.

The new Spirit of Ecstasy is 8.2 centimetres tall, making her 1.7cm shorter than the current statue.

Whereas in previous iterations she's standing with both feet together and legs straight, bending at the waist, the Spirit of Ecstasy now has a dynamic stance with one leg forward and knees bent. Her robes were also redesigned to look both more realistic and aerodynamic, with her arms extended farther back.

Rolls-Royce says the new ornament contributes to early prototypes of the Spectre having a coefficient of drag of 0.26, making it the brand’s most aerodynamic car ever and matching cars such as the BMW i8.

The Spectre (above) is still undergoing a massive testing regimen, though, with Rolls-Royce adding that the aero figure is likely to improve as development continues. In addition to debuting on the Spectre, the new Spirit of Ecstasy will be used on all future models, while the current design will continue on the existing lineup.

Instead of being redrawn or tweaked by hand, the new shape was sculpted digitally by a computer modeler on the design team, which Rolls-Royce said made it possible to perfectly adjust minutiae like her facial features. The team also consulted stylists about her clothes, hair and posture to make sure her new look was contemporary.

All Spirit of Ecstasy ornaments are made using lost wax casting and are finished by hand, which means no two figures are exactly the same.

The Spirit of Ecstasy is made standard from stainless steel, but it's available in carbon fibre, solid silver, plated gold and illuminated crystal as an option, as well as with a lit-up ring in the base. The statuettes were all silver-plated until 1914.

The graceful emblem has a murky past, as the fruit of a sordid affair between a famous Rolls-Royce customer and an actress.

In the early 1900s, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu commissioned a mascot for his car from a sculptor called Charles Robinson Sykes. The artist based the figurine on Eleanor Velasco Thornton, an actress who also happened to be Beaulieu’s mistress – hence the finger on her lips and the ‘Whisperer’ nickname.

The mascot quickly became a fashion must-have, and Sykes was commissioned by Rolls-Royce to produce an official statuette. The Spirit of Ecstasy was the result, and she sits supreme, riding ahead of motorists ‘to revel in the freshness of the air’, or something like that, as Sykes explained it.

Thornton died in 1915 when the ship she was sailing on was hit by a torpedo from a German U-boat – but her legacy lives on in a remarkable way.