Rolls-Royce Boat Tail

Rolls-Royce has unveiled the second in its Rolls-Royce Boat Tail trio of the most expensive new cars in the world – worth a combined £60million – and it’s a pearl.

Commissioned by a secretive – and unnamed – the family which made its fortune in the pearl trade, the bespoke £20million one-off coach-built luxury convertible grand tourer features a unique pearlescent exterior finish and interior detailing inspired by mother-of-pearl. This includes a dashboard clock and a host of luxurious gadgets and fripperies.

The car was designed by the company’s specialized coachbuild division at its Goodwood plant, reinterpreting the 1910s Rolls-Royce Ltd Boat Tail car design. It draws aesthetic inspiration from yachts of the 1920s and 1930s. The car shares its chassis and engine with the Rolls-Royce Phantom; but has 1,813 bespoke parts, including five electronic control units in the rear deck.

The first of three cars built features a parasol that extends from the rear deck deployed by a mechanical system in an inverted manner like a flower, rotating cocktail tables with matching stool seats, a complete set of Christofle tableware and two fridges in a color scheme to match Armand de Brignac champagne bottles. The deck is finished in Caleidolegno veneer and hinges towards the centre in a butterfly shape, at an angle of 67 degrees.

Hand-crafted at Rolls-Royce’s headquarters at Goodwood in Sussex, which employs more than 2,000 people, the two-door four-seater Rolls-Royce Boat Tail will be unveiling at the prestigious Concorso d’Eleganza event at the Villa d’Este on the shores of Lake Como in Northern Italy on Saturday.

The second ultra-exclusive Boat Tail model is entirely hand-built, with the body panels fashioned from vast, single sheets of aluminium to create a distinctive outline inspired by the racing yachts of the early 20th century.

It also uses four specially chosen pearl shells and mother of pearl highlights as the basis of its colour scheme and design.

At the press of a button, the deck opens in a sweeping butterfly gesture, revealing an intricate hosting suite replete with a whimsical parasol. Its movement evokes cantilever concepts explored by renowned architect Santiago Calatrava. Rolls-Royce Boat Tail’s nautical form evokes graceful J-class yachts and a 1932 Rolls-Royce Boat Tail the owners lovingly restored as part of their expansive collection.

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