The 5 Most Luxurious Details We Spotted On This $30 Million Rolls-Royce Droptail
Ahead of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance last weekend, Rolls-Royce introduced La Rose Noire Droptail – a hand-built, individually designed roadster that comes from the company's coachbuilding division. Four Droptails will be built in total, but La Rose Noire is a commission all its own, with an intricate level of detail you won't find in any of the company's other cars.
Considering just what sort of portfolio Rolls-Royce offers right now, that's saying something. A brand-new Spectre coupe combines its all-electric drivetrain with a $420,000+ price tag, after all; a Black Badge Ghost wafts with sinister grace and the handiwork of a legion of artisans in wood, leather, and engineering. Then there's Phantom, a sedan so stately it practically warrants its own ZIP code, and itself the subject of plenty of one-off customizations.
All are dimmed, however, by the shadow of the La Rose Noire Droptail. Then again, I'm told this particular commission cost upwards of $30 million, so I'd expect nothing less. Let's take a closer look.
The whole car was inspired by a specific French rose
The Black Baccara rose, to be precise. Native to France, this rose is said to be "beloved by the mother of the commissioning family," according to Rolls-Royce, and is highly regarded for its super-dark color and almost velvet-like finish.
That's why the Droptail is done up in a fully red-and-black scheme. The main paint is a color created specifically for this car, called True Love (aww), and it changes color based on the sunlight. In direct sun, it's quite vibrant, but in the shade or under cloud cover, it almost takes on a more purplish black hue.
Rolls-Royce says the True Love color took 150 paint processes to create. It's made up of a base color — one Rolls-Royce will not divulge — and then topped with five different layers of lacquer, all of which have slightly different red tints. The result is a hue you'll probably never see on another car.
The wood interior details took two years to create
Look behind the front seats and you'll see a huge wood panel that molds around the rear of the Droptail. Upon closer inspection, you'll notice that it's actually made of individual black veneer triangles broken up with dark red pieces. The whole effect is meant to mimic rose petals being scattered in the wind. There's that flower again.
This was truly a labor of love, as it took roughly two years to actually put this whole panel together. There are 1,070 pieces that form the background, finished in a specific lacquer that itself took a year to develop. Then, 533 red pieces were asymmetrically placed to give the impression of drifts of petals.
It doesn't stop there, though. Have a look at the rear deck and the theme continues, with similarly shaped bits of red strewn across the black paint. It's something you don't immediately notice when you see the car for the first time, but I assure you, when the sun lights up that True Love color, this presentation really pops.
Droptail comes with a matching chest created for an exclusive vintage of champagne
What's the point of commissioning your own $30 million car if you aren't going to ask your favorite French vineyard to make an exclusive blend of champagne so you can enjoy it while you're, I don't know, parked near the beach? And if you're going to have some super-special champagne, you'll surely need a case in which to transport it, right? Thankfully, the Droptail has its owners covered.
As you'd expect, the champagne chest is done up in a color scheme that matches the Droptail itself. Press a button and the whole thing opens, presenting to you a set of hand-blown crystal flutes as well as thermal coolers to make sure the bubbly is always at the correct temperature. This is way more luxurious than pounding a bottle of Cook's in the back of your friend's Ford Ranger at a beachside bonfire.
There's a fancy bespoke watch inside the dashboard
I'm not a watch guy — sorry, timepiece guy — but I know a fancy wrist ornament when I see one. For the Droptail's owners, watchmaker Audemars Piguet (known for pieces that can cost upward of a quarter-million dollars) created a one-off chronograph that matches the car's colorway, and more impressively, can actually be placed inside the dashboard to be displayed while driving.
Rolls-Royce created a power clasp mechanism in the place where its clock would usually be housed, so you can take the watch out, attach it to a strap, and wear it out to dinner. When you get back in the car, you can then nestle it back amid more of those hand-crafted triangles. And when the watch is out of its home, Rolls-Royce says there's "an elegant titanium openworked blank head watch highlighting a white-gold coin displaying a rose engraving." How lavish.
It has a huge, single-piece removable roof
A car like this deserves more than a traditional convertible top, so Rolls-Royce actually designed a one-piece roof that can be installed should its owners not feel like driving al fresco. The hardtop also has an electrochromic glass roof, so you can control the amount of light being let into the cabin.
I'd be curious to know how long it takes to actually put the top on or take it off, and how many of your assistants will be required to perform such a task. Admittedly, I love the way the Droptail looks with the top on: it turns this roadster into a svelte, low-slung coupe.
Rolls-Royce says the look was inspired by mid-twentieth century "hot-rod" builds, not perhaps the first aesthetic you'd associate with the automaker. Of course, for Droptail the removable roof is made of carbon fiber and uses the mounting points to route the hidden electrical connections for the tinting glass.
However...
La Rose Noire is a car of superlatives, that's for sure: more power than a typical V12 Rolls-Royce, more complex in its design and engineering than any of the automaker's coachbuilds before it, and — like Boat Tail back in 2021 — demanding both copious budget and patience from the commissioning clients.
There's one big detail that I can't overlook, however: Rolls-Royce is building four of these. Sure, they'll all be different specifications with unique color and detail combinations, and I'm certain the scattered rose petal theme will be exclusive to this car. But, for a vehicle to truly be considered coachbuilt, it should be a one-of-one proposition.
Why spend upwards of $30 million on a car if you can't have something 100% unique?