Rolls-Royce’s Drop Tail is a $37M mic drop
The coachbuilders at Rolls-Royce are on a roll. Following on from 2017’s Sweptail and the 2021 Boat Tail custom creations, the in-house artisans have come up with a new Drop Tail roadster, reckoned to be the most expensive new Roller ever made.
Industry experts estimate that the four customers who commissioned the striking two-seater will have spent more than $37 million apiece. Although it might, at first glance, look a bit like the discontinued Dawn (especially the limited edition Silver Bullet) the car is completely new.
Instead of being built on the company’s Architecture of Luxury platform it has a bespoke monocoque made from steel, aluminum and carbon fiber. Its carbon footprint, meanwhile, clearly wasn’t a big concern as motion is provided by the most powerful iteration of Roll’s V-12 to date. The twin-turbocharged 6.75-liter engine is boosted by 30 horsepower to deliver 601 hp and 620 lbft of torque.
Stylistically the Drop Tail pays homage to the brand’s earliest roadsters, while simultaneously taking advantage of the most modern design and engineering techniques. It cuts a lower profile than other Rollers with a steeply raked screen, looking especially sporty with its removable carbon roof in place. The familiar RR nose gets exaggerated gill-like intakes, while the rear has an elaborate carbon diffuser. As the name suggests it’s the rear deck of the Drop Tail that’s its most distinctive feature. The center section swoops downwards leaving a pair of mini buttresses to its sides, and flows beneath an integrated rear spoiler. This design is “not ordinarily conducive to producing downforce” admits Rolls-Royce and it took 20 iterations and two years of work to get it right.
The cabin, meanwhile, features a wood panel with 1603 piece of veneer that took a single craftsman more than nine months to complete—the “most complicated, involved and prohibitive work of craft ever produced” by Rolls-Royce according to Coachbuild design boss Alex Innes. Working closely in collaboration with the four enthusiastic customers the Drop Tail has been an intense four-year project
“In every detail of this historic commission, there are echoes of both Rolls-Royce’s rich heritage and the commissioning clients’ character, from its captivating yet formidable form to its flawless and elegant romantic gestures,” says CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös. “La Rose Noire Droptail, like the remarkable clients who dared to make such a potent and contemporary statement, will be written into Rolls-Royce history forever.”
The first of the four Drop Tails produced is known as La Rose Noire after its color-shifting True Love Red paintwork which took 150 attempts to perfect. It comes with a one-off Audemars Piquet timepiece which can be mounted in the car or worn on the owner’s wrist, while the customer also commissioned a special vintage champagne which can be kept cool in the car’s integrated champagne chest.
The car was presented to its owners at Pebble Beach, which will probably be the only time it ever appears in public.
Does anyone else see the similarity in the light signature and chamfered housing to the 2023 Hyundai ELANTRA in the rear end?
Also, the rear graphics of the Fisker Ronin!
Hmmm…so RR needed an operating budget boost and came out with these rather than issuing bonds. Interesting move. Wonder how much of that $148m the “single craftsman” took home.
Buy a Genesis G 90, have the U. S. Treasury bring back the $10,000 bill and wrap the body with them. The same status and the public will love you, well at least after they sprint away with part of your body wrap.
Rolls-Royce 37 million
Who other than some one who is super rich could afford such a car.
This is ridiculous. I wonder what these cars actually cost RR. Just like a huge house, a way to brag and show off how rich these people. They are completely out of touch with reality.
Disgusting. These idiots could solve world hunger and they buy 4 ugly cars instead.
Agreed
IF YOU HAVE IT, SPEND IT….CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU AND THE CARS WILL BE AROUND FOREVER.
Pretty obscene, transportation for the “ let them eat cake” crowd.
I do like that color but the styling of modern Rolls does nothing for me.
I could buy a jet… And another jet trainer to do aerobatics, and a Bugatti. Maybe another house for my kid. The pricing of the “drop tail” is arrogant.
4 people could and would write that cheque. Why the hate?? If you have that kind of money good on ya!
Wealth doesn’t make them criminal or bad people maybe they worked hard – or won the lottery?!
sheeesh.
Envy is a “green eyed monster,” and many people succumb to its ‘allure.’ This car and what it represents is not what I would enjoy, but to those who it makes happy, so be it! I’m happy for those that can make things out of the ordinary, whether by themselves, or furnish the means for others to make such things. Don’t be envious, go out, make your dream, and enjoy it. Who cares if it doesn’t meet someone else’s expectations.
It makes you feel a bit “icky” reading about some robber-baron, oil sheik spending $37million on a car, no one will ever drive, or even see in public.
WIN59 and Robert Jt, reread the above posts. There’s not “hate.” It’s disgust. If you believe those with that sort of discretionary income “worked hard,” let alone 2,000 times harder than their employees, you live in a cocooned bubble. And why do you imagine they need you shilling for them, your gratis public relations boost? Do you think they require your defense, and that doing so somehow lofts you into their set?
Crash one of their events, parties. See how far you get. Reread the above posters. They make good points.
BTW, having some rich friends, can assure you money begets money, and can’t think of a single one who didn’t begin with over-leveraged family property, a trust fund, and/or a wealthy in-law.
No car is worth $37 million. PerpetuallyUnimpressed asks a good question, “how much did the single craftsman take home?”
Every poster above makes a cogent point. I do agree with Gary Bechtold about it being a nice color. Otherwise, jcav48 well sums it.
Meanwhile, you might learn a little about Rolls-Royce’s history: Their 1922 “Small Horsepower” 20 was a copy of the Buick Six, tho’ in the words of one Sceptered Isle motoring journalist, “not so good,” this engine the basis of all their engines other than the extremely limited production B80 Phantom IV F-head inline eight until their V-8 introduced in 1959, its chief engineer, well lubricated at its debut, blurting out, “It’s bloody near as good as the Chrysler.” Before War II, R-R was annually disassembling a new Buick to glean the latest Detroit production tips. Their postwar i.f.s. was a nut and bolt copy of Packard’s Saf-T-Flex until the Silver Cloud/Bentley S Series which used a regular GM type i.f.s., and of course HydraMatic, Delco electrics.
You fellows thinking the ultra-rich need your moral support should learn a little about marketing and economics, instead of castigating the genuine car guys above merely for being thoughtful and having taste.
How about you send $37,000,000.00 to Hawaii victims?
Were there no lights in the studio? Why so dark? What are they hiding? A bad design..