Created by its Coachbuild division, the newly unveiled Rolls-Royce Boat Tail could be the world’s most expensive car with experts estimating a price tag of £20million.
Following in the tyre marks of the £10million coachbuilt Sweptail of 2017, the Rolls-Royce Boat Tail was created on behalf of three ‘patrons’ who each wanted a vehicle that ‘showed them something they’d never seen before’. Well that’s exactly what they got.
The Boat Tail design is inspired by the nautical lines of the J-class yachts and fulfils a long-held ambition of the design team at Rolls-Royce to create a contemporary expression of the Boat Tail typology, where coachbuilders would graft the hull forms of sailing boats onto the rolling chassis of a Rolls-Royce.
Once the preliminary design proposal was drawn, a full-sized sculpture is created in clay, allowing hand-crafted manipulation into perfect its shape. The clay sculpture is digitally remastered, from which the buck is created on to which aluminium sheets are hammer-formed by hand.
But it is not just about the shape and the mechanics…
If it’s not the most expensive car in the world, its definitely the most expensive picnic basket we’ve ever seen!
Using the brief of Rolls-Royce Boat Tail’s commissioning patrons as a ‘reflection of their character’, at the press of a button the rear deck opens to reveal what Rolls-Royce refers to as ‘an intricate and generous hosting suite’.
Hinged towards the centre line, the open doors reveal a chest filled with the perfect ‘accoutrements’ for a true Rolls-Royce al fresco dining experience; one side dedicated to aperitifs, the other, cuisine, complete with cutlery engraved with the name ‘Boat Tail’.
A double refrigerator houses the clients’ favourite vintages of Armand de Brignac champagne with cradles built to stow the specific bottle size within the refrigerator, that rapidly cools the bottle to precisely six degrees – the optimum serving temperature of the preferred vintage.
A classic design element of contemporary Rolls-Royce cars is the stowage of Rolls-Royce umbrellas in the doors, in case of rain. The Boat Tail goes one step further with a unique parasol is housed beneath the rear centre line to act as a sunshade. All deployed with an effortless telescopic movement obviously.
Cocktail tables rotate to mimic the offering of an attendant, open on either side of the ‘hosting suite’ with two minimalist stools discretely stowed below. Designed by Rolls-Royce and created by Italian furniture maker Promemoria, the interlocking stools are formed from the same technical fibre found on the exterior of the car. The interior blue Rolls-Royce leather provides the stools’ seat.
Add in two BOVET 1822 watches, his and hers, that can be worn on the wrist or inserted into the dashboard as the motor’s clock, and a Montblanc pen hand-crafted and hidden in an aluminium and leather case in Boat Tail’s glove box.
Measuring just under 5.8 metres long, the new four-seater two-door Rolls Royce Boat Tail is the first to be built by Rolls Royce’s new Coachbuild department at the company’s HQ near Goodwood, Sussex.
Find more info:
Rolls-Royce Coachbuilder
Join the club:
The International Club for Rolls Royce and Bentley Enthusiasts
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