The Rolls-Royce Boat Tail is a
mid-size
Mid-size—also known as intermediate—is a vehicle size class which originated in the United States and is used for cars larger than compact cars and smaller than full-size cars. "Large family car" is a UK term and a part of the D-segment in t ...
d luxury
coach built grand tourer
A grand tourer (GT) is a type of car that is designed for high speed and long-distance driving with performance and luxury. The most common format is a Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, front-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-door coupé with ...
car made by
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited is a British luxury automobile maker that has operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of BMW, BMW AG since 2003 – as the exclusive manufacturer of ''Rolls-Royce''-branded motor cars. The company's administra ...
. It is the world's most expensive
street legal new car, with a speculated price of US$28 million.
History
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...
, the parent company of Rolls-Royce, trademark protected the Boat Tail Concept with the
European Union Intellectual Property Office
The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) () is a decentralised agency of the EU responsible for the registration of EU-wide unitary trade marks and industrial design rights. These exist alongside the intellectual property rig ...
on 30 May 2018, as well as with the
National Institute of Industrial Property in Brazil.
Design
The car was designed by the company's specialised
coachbuild division at its
Goodwood plant
The Goodwood plant is the headquarters, design, manufacturing and assembly centre for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
Officially opened on 1 January 2003, the plant is situated on a site covering . The plant has been expanded since. Over 1,700 workers ...
, reinterpreting the 1910s
Rolls-Royce Ltd
Rolls-Royce Limited was a British luxury car and later an aero-engine manufacturing business established in 1904 in Manchester by the partnership of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Building on Royce's good reputation established with his Crane ( ...
Boat Tail car design.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5oaZ-TQGLo (at 3 min 50s)] It draws aesthetic inspiration from
yacht
A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...
s of the 1920s and 1930s. The car shares its chassis and engine with the
Rolls-Royce Phantom
Automaker Rolls-Royce has used the Phantom name on full-sized luxury cars and limousine
A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenge ...
;
but has 1,813
bespoke
''Bespoke'' () describes anything commissioned to a particular specification, altered or tailored to the customs, tastes, or usage of an individual purchaser. In contemporary usage, ''bespoke'' has become a general marketing and branding concep ...
parts,
including five
electronic control units in the rear deck.
[ The cars feature 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
Christofle is a luxury French silverware and tableware company founded in Paris in 1830 by Charles Christofle.
The company is known for having introduced electrolytic gilding and silver plating in France in 1842. The company was acquired in ...
tableware
Tableware items are the dishware and utensils used for setting a table, serving food, and dining. The term includes cutlery, glassware, serving dishes, serving utensils, and other items used for practical as well as decorative purposes. The ...
and two fridges in a colour scheme to match Armand de Brignac
Armand de Brignac, known colloquially as Ace of Spades, is a French Champagne owned by Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter and LVMH. The brand is produced by Champagne Cattier and sold in opaque metallic bottles. The brand's first bottling, Armand de Brignac B ...
champagne bottles. veneer
Veneer may refer to:
Materials
* Masonry veneer, a thin facing layer of brick
* Stone veneer, a thin facing layer of stone
* Veneer (dentistry), a cosmetic treatment for teeth
* Wood veneer, a thin facing layer of wood
Arts and entertainment
* ' ...
and hinges towards the centre in a butterfly shape, at an angle of 67 degrees.Bovet Fleurier
Bovet Fleurier SA is a Swiss brand of luxury watchmakers chartered 1 May 1822 in London, United Kingdom by Édouard Bovet. It is most noted for its pocket watches manufactured for the Chinese market in the 19th century. Today it produces high-end ...
which include a tiny sculpture of the car in the dial. The watches can be worn as a wristwatch or used as a desk clock or pocket watch, and they can also be placed in a titanium enclosure on the car's dashboard to be used as its clock. The car has a bespoke Bose Corporation
Bose Corporation () is an American manufacturing company that predominantly sells audio equipment. The company was established by Amar Bose in 1964 and is based in Framingham, Massachusetts. It is best known for its Home audio, home audio syste ...
sound system which uses the car's floor structure as a resonance chamber
In acoustics, a resonance chamber is a cavity which enhances the transfer of energy from a sound source (e.g. a vibrating string) to the air via resonance. The chamber has interior surfaces which reflect an acoustic wave. When a wave enters th ...
. The car includes a Montblanc pen housed in a hand-crafted case inside the glove box. The instrument panel dials feature guilloché
Guilloché (), or guilloche (), is a decorative technique in which a very precise, intricate and repetitive pattern is mechanically engraved into an underlying material via engine turning, which uses a machine of the same name. Engine turning m ...
decorative work.
References
External links
*
{{Rolls-Royce vehicles
Boat Tail
Retro-style automobiles