Rolls royce takes personaliszation to the next level with a one off all new car, not sure if i like it !

When, approximately one year ago, Rolls-Royce presented 103EX to the world, it invoked its coachbuilding heritage to inspire its future clientele. This Vision Vehicle envisaged a world of completely personal luxury mobility where new technologies would allow every Rolls-Royce to be designed in their owners’ image, should they wish. Such a Rolls-Royce would represent the truest meaning of luxury – a personal, Bespoke motor car like no other for each individual commissioning patron. 

The mere idea of a modern coachbuilt Rolls-Royce was not enough for one Rolls-Royce connoisseur however. This individual approached the marque with his own idea of a two-seat Rolls-Royce that he wanted to be created in the here and now. That motor car is here, now and is christened ‘Sweptail’. In a nod to the swept-tail of certain Rolls-Royces from the 1920s, admired by the client so much, he asked Rolls-Royce to reimagine this feature on his one-off motor car. 

Presenting the car to the media at the Concorso d’Eleganza at Villa d’Este on Saturday 27th May 2017, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars said, “Sweptail is a truly magnificent car. It exudes the romance of travel for its own sake, and immediately places ‘Sweptail’ in the pantheon of the world’s great intercontinental tourers. Rolls-Royce’s history as the world’s leading coachbuilder is at the very core of its identity as the world’s leading luxury brand. The arrival of 103EX shone a light on the future of Rolls-Royce in this field, and ‘Sweptail’ is proof, today, that Rolls-Royce is at the pinnacle of coachbuilding. We are listening carefully to our most special customers and assessing their interest in investing in similar, completely exclusive coachbuilt masterpieces. At the same time we are looking into the resources which will allow us to offer this unique service to these discerning patrons of luxury.” 

Through this commission, Rolls-Royce has proven once again to be the world’s leading luxury goods provider.

‘Sweptail’ – how the vision became the reality

“Sweptail is the automotive equivalent of Haute Couture,” comments Giles Taylor, Director of Design at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. “It is a Rolls-Royce designed and hand-tailored to fit a specific customer. This customer came to the House of Rolls-Royce with an idea, shared in the creative process where we advised him on his cloth, and then we tailored that cloth to him. You might say we cut the cloth for the suit of clothes that he will be judged by.”

In 2013, Rolls-Royce was approached by one of its most valued customers with a very particular request. A connoisseur and collector of distinctive, one-off items including super-yachts and private aircraft, this gentleman came to Rolls-Royce to realise his vision of a one-off luxury motor car like no other. 

The client immediately established a close rapport with the design department led by Taylor, who set about bringing the idea to life. 

Inspired by the beautiful coachbuilt Rolls-Royces of the 1920s and 1930s, the client’s desire was for a coachbuilt two seater coupé featuring a large panoramic glass roof. As a connoisseur of Rolls-Royces, he was inspired by many of his favourite cars from the marque’s golden era of the early 20th Century, as well as many classic and modern yachts. 

The grandeur, scale, flamboyance and drama of the 1925 Phantom I Round Door built by Jonckheere; the svelte tapering glasshouse, dramatic dash to axle proportion and up-sweep of the rear departure angle of the 1934 Phantom II Streamline Saloon by Park Ward; the elegantly falling waist-rail, swept tail coachwork of the 1934 Gurney Nutting Phantom II Two Door Light Saloon, and the flowing roofline, rising departure angle, and again the swept tail coachwork of the 1934 Park Ward 20/25 Limousine Coupé were all considered by today’s Rolls-Royce designers in the creation of this very distinctive motor car. 

Over the course of a number of years, Taylor and his team of designers engaged with the client in a wonderfully intellectual journey as they worked together to realise the customer’s distinct vision and bring it to life. 

“Our job was to guide, edit and finely hone the lines that would ultimately give our client this most perfect of Rolls-Royces,” comments Taylor. 

The result of this one-off coachbuild project is the completely unique Rolls-Royce ‘Sweptail’. 

‘Sweptail’ – A distinct vision

The ‘Sweptail’ is without question a Rolls-Royce that fits to the marque’s DNA. Its initial formality when seen from the front signals that this is one very different and distinct Rolls-Royce. One’s attention is first attracted by the confident and solid character of the front profile, centred on a new treatment of the iconic Rolls-Royce Pantheon grille. The largest of any modern era Rolls-Royce, the grille is milled from solid aluminium before being painstakingly polished by hand to a mirror finish. The periphery of the front face of ‘Sweptail’ is framed in brushed aluminium. 

As one moves around to the side of ‘Sweptail’ one finds that it is the striking silhouette that defines its unique character. Flowing as they do from upright and formal frontal aspect, the lines of ‘Sweptail’ resolve into a sveltely elegant form. The scale and grandeur of this regal looking coupé is evident. From the leading edge of the windscreen, the roofline accelerates as it fires backwards towards the rear of the motor car, overshooting the boot lid edge to emphasise its length. The longer side window graphic and wide C-pillar finisher underscore the length and proportions of this more wondrous of conveyances. 

The coup de gras of the rear is the ultimate homage to the world of racing yachts that inspired the client, with its raked stern. Seen directly from behind, the rear taper contrasts strongly with the front of the motor car, shaping a completely new perception of a dramatic Rolls-Royce Coupé. 

Both the roof line as it tapers towards the centre line of the car, concluding in a ‘bullet-tip’ that houses the centre brake light, and the sweeping lower bumper area of the motor car, combine to create a greater feeling of elegance in motion. 

The cleanliness of the surface of ‘Sweptail’ is maintained as the bodywork wraps under the car with no visible boundary to the surfaces, a treatment that is akin to the hull of a yacht. The underside of the motor car was designed to deliver the visual of a progressive upward sweep at the rear departure angle of the car, culminating in the swept-tail that gives ‘Sweptail’ it name. 

And finishing off the uncluttered rear of this one-off motor car, is its identifier and registration number, 08. Two individual digits milled from ingots of aluminium and hand polished.

The panoramic glass roof invites one into the magnificent interior, along with the natural light

The highlight feature of ‘Sweptail’ however is that specifically asked for by the client. An uninterrupted glass roof, one of the largest and most complex ever seen on a motor car of any marque, allows the cabin to be flooded with natural light, animating a host of beautifully handcrafted materials and componentry. 

The size, scale and complexity of the glass roof’s curvature is a marvel to behold, and from above again accentuates the speed and elegance of ‘Sweptail’. Creating the ambience of the interior of the motor car, the glass of the roof is framed by polished aluminium rails that channel it into a vanishing point at the rearmost extremity of the cabin.

Regal but modern interior

The cleanliness and grandeur of the bodywork from the side view, the lengthened side windows and the panoramic glass roof combine to illuminate the two singular occupants of this most singular Rolls-Royce and its modern, minimalistic handcrafted interior. The provision of only two seats in a motor car of this size exudes the romance of travel for its own sake, and immediately places ‘Sweptail’ in the pantheon of the world’s great intercontinental tourers. This is furthered by the overall design of the interior, which has been conceived in a classic two-seat GT configuration, echoing the touring nature of its exterior body lines.

And what a place to be as one watches the world slip by through the vast windows and roof, detached from the outside world in a cocoon of luxury whilst feeling one is part of that passing landscape. 

The interior is ruled by a philosophy of simplicity and minimalism leading to a distillation of componentry and a purification of clutter. The value of beautiful materials takes precedence here, resulting in a fastidious suppression of switchgear to the absolute minimum to make way for the richest of materials applied in the most honest of fashions. An uninterrupted and harmonious visual experience of every surface inside the cabin is ensured. 

Generous quantities of polished Macassar Ebony and open-pore Paldao adorn the interior, creating visual and tactile contrasts for the owner, both classical and contemporary. All their forms however are thoroughly modern as they echo the exterior lines of ‘Sweptail’, hand-formed to encircle the occupants with some of the most beautiful natural materials in the world. This choice of dark and light, Ebony and Paldao, is set off by contrasting light Moccasin and Dark Spice leathers that adorn the seats, armrests and dashboard top. 

But it is what those materials have been made to do that is the most fascinating aspect of this one-off cabin. True to the spirit of a transcontinental GT that Rolls-Royce established in the 20s and 30s, in place of the rear seats is a vast expanse of wood creating a mid-shelf with an illuminated glass lip, and a hat shelf which flows to the outer limits of the interior volume. Sitting under the rear opening backlight through which it can be accessed, the hat shelf is in itself a thing of beauty, highly polished and inset with luggage rails. 

Behind the occupants, a feature named the Passarelle flows from the rear edge of the windscreen to resolve in a teardrop as it connects to the hat shelf to join all interior volumes. This element also includes the only visible presence of this singular motor car’s name as ‘Sweptail’ is discreetly debossed into the surface, exactly on the centre line.

Other modern materials and modern uses of those materials feature. The Macassar Ebony veneer seen around the cabin has been handcrafted to adorn the dashboard in the most modern way. The cleanest Rolls-Royce dashboard to date, the minimalist ethic not only dictates that only one control now appears on it whilst all other switchgear is discreetly relocated, but that the clock blends seamlessly too. In a world first, the face of this singular Rolls-Royce clock is also handmade of the thinnest Macassar veneer, visually embedding the clock into the fascia. 

The delicacy of this particular piece of veneer allows for its rear illumination to pass through to show the hour marks, meaning the only physical elements on the clock are its hands that are precision machined from titanium. This use of titanium then extends to the faces, numbers and hands on all three hand-assembled instrument dials. 

Two final surprise and delight features have been secreted inside ‘Sweptail’ to the stringent standards of the client. 

Concealed in the outboard walls on either side of the motor car, behind the opening of the coach doors, are two identical panniers. Each pannier, when activated, deploys forward to present the owner’s bespoke made attaché case which has been carefully packaged to exactly house his personal laptop device. 

The cases themselves have been hand-constructed from lightweight carbon fibre, wrapped in the finest leather that matches the interior of ‘Sweptail’ and detailed with machined aluminium and titanium clasps and locks. 

These attaché cases are twinned with the full set of luggage also developed by Rolls-Royce Bespoke for ‘Sweptail’. The luggage resides in the trunk of the motor car, a trunk beautifully clad in the same wood as the hat shelf and inset with polished aluminium luggage rails. 

The coup de gras of this one-off masterpiece is as personal to the owner as every other feature of ‘Sweptail’. The entire centre console now houses a one-off hand-built mechanism that, at the touch of a button, will deploy a bottle of the client’s favourite vintage champagne – the year of his birth – and two crystal champagne flutes. As the lid of the chiller opens, the mechanical action articulates the bottle to the perfect position for the owner to pick up. 

A most personal, coachbuilt Rolls-Royce for a specific customer, every aspect of the material treatment of ‘Sweptail’ exudes handcrafted quality and exacting attention to detail. In short, it is a Rolls-Royce – but like no other before. 

GENEVA - Rolls ROyce will showcase why it is the best brand in the world at this years show.

At this year’s Geneva Motor Show, Rolls-Royce will show why it is considered to be the world’s leading luxury house by showcasing the full breadth of its Bespoke capabilities. 

The facets of Bespoke tailoring, Bespoke engineering and Bespoke jewellery will demonstrate to every connoisseur who commissions a Rolls-Royce that they can count on having their desire for a truly personal motor car, that reflects who they are, fulfilled in the most fitting manner to them. In short, they can be assured that Bespoke is Rolls-Royce.  

‘Dawn - Inspired by Fashion’ will, with its Spring/Summer 2017 collection of three colour schemes, show how Bespoke means complementing the fine couture our patrons wear from day to day. 

Wraith Black Badge, a motor car Bespoke-engineered to suit its younger, edgier customers will demonstrate that at Rolls-Royce, Bespoke is anything but skin deep.

And one patron has allowed Rolls-Royce to show the Geneva crowds that only they can “create the unimaginable” by showing the Elegance, the ultimate expression of luxury with the luxury world’s first Diamond paint finish.

Such cars are considered works of art by their collectors and owners, and in homage to this status, Belgian artist, Charles Kaisan, has created a Bespoke sculpture for the Rolls-Royce Art Programme that will adorn the Rolls-Royce stand for the duration of the Geneva Salon.

Elegance

This year, Rolls-Royce brings Elegance to the Geneva International Motor Show, a car inspired by something that cannot be bought, but is innate…style. 

The lifestyle of the Rolls-Royce customer is like no other. They are unapologetic in their lifestyle choices and are proud to showcase this to the world. In the words of Coco Chanel, “Elegance is not the prerogative of those who have just escaped from adolescence, but of those who have already taken possession of their future.”

One such connoisseur of luxury has chosen to share their personal vision of elegance with those who attend the Geneva Motor Show this year; the Rolls-Royce Ghost Elegance, the first luxury motor car to be finished in a paint created from diamonds.

Only Rolls-Royce, with the skilled craftspeople who reside in its paintshop, could have created a paint made from 1,000 crushed diamonds. Named ‘Diamond Stardust’, this is the most luxurious and lustrous exterior ever seen on a motor car, and the most expensive paint to grace the body of a Rolls-Royce.

Commissioned for an individual collector, this unique motor car takes the term Bespoke to the next level.

This exclusive paint was created by the craftspeople at the Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood by subjecting 1,000 ethically-sourced diamonds to a special process.

This process saw the diamonds go through extensive testing to ensure their radiance when used in a paint. Goodwood’s Technical Laboratory Leader, Paolo Travaglia, and his team of paint specialists, Rawdon Evernden and Joseph Piotrowski, spent two months of concentrated testing to achieve the perfect result. Examining the dimensions of the precious stones with the use of a high-powered microscope, the team carefully analysed their transmission and reflection of light. The density and strength of the diamonds created a challenge for the team to produce an easy marriage with the clear paint and its ability to spread gracefully over a surface, leaving the diamonds undetectable to the touch.

This process resulted in the creation of a very fine diamond powder which was then mixed into the paint. Additionally, a new and unique paint process was developed, including the application of an extra final layer of lacquer to protect the diamond particles during the hand-polishing process. This process added an extra two days of paint application by hand and a further day of finishing.

Applied to the top section of the car, the paint finish glistens like no other, making this a motor car to be recognised and appreciated. Just like its owner, the car exudes unapologetic luxury and grandeur.

The final elegant exterior touches to this one off Rolls-Royce Ghost have been applied by master coachline painter, Mark Court, with a squirrel-hair paint brush. The flanks of the motor car are accented with Mugello Red and Black twin coachlines. To enhance the exterior further, the centre of the 21 inch wheels are hand-painted with a Mugello Red pinstripe. Last but not least at the prow of the car, showcased in all her glory, an uplit Spirit of Ecstasy guides this unique Rolls-Royce, and its owner, into the future.

The interior of this unique Rolls-Royce Ghost also communicates the elegant tastes of its owner. Chauffeur and passenger areas are clearly demarcated as in the early days of luxury motoring. The chauffeur’s ‘cockpit’ features black leather seats with accents of Mugello Red stitching on the doors, and piping on the seats. The colour black is continued in the lustrous carpet and lambswool footmats. The detailed fascia of smooth open pore Tudor Oak veneer is also complemented with a Mugello Red single stitch along the top of the dashboard, and finished with a Bespoke clock.

Adorning the rear sanctuary, the lounge seat is contoured with Selby Grey soft leather and also accompanied with Mugello Red stitching and piping. The inner pockets of the rear doors are lined with a favourite material of the owner; a Grey, Black and Red Tartan. 

Haute Couture meets Rolls-Royce 

“Style is very personal. It has nothing to do with fashion. Fashion is over quickly. Style is forever.”

Ralph Lauren

For the first time at a public motor show, The House of Rolls-Royce presents its full Spring/Summer 2017 Couture collection that is ‘Dawn - Inspired by Fashion’. 

The world of Fashion and Rolls-Royce have created a shared value of providing their clients with the ability to have the finest luxury goods, tailored to their tastes and lifestyles. It is Rolls-Royce clients who are seen in the front rows of the best Couture shows, a part of the world’s fashion elite. As today’s taste makers, it is their take on design and style which transforms the direction fashion moves in.

Design Director, Giles Taylor, and his team of talented designers at the Home of Rolls-Royce in West Sussex, who are responsible for the most intricate embroideries and textiles offered by the brand, carefully selected Andalusian White, a pure colour from the eclectic palette of the Rolls-Royce paints, to be the canvas for the motor car accented in three vibrant colours; Mugello Red, Cobalto Blue and Mandarin. The 2017 Geneva Motor Show is the first time all three choices have been seen together.

Like the clients who will be drawn to this collection, the car represents simplified, classic style. As featured on numerous catwalks throughout London Fashion week, colour blocking, said to have originated from the artwork of Dutch painter, Piet Mondrian, is a bold trend that sees opposite colours paired together to make interesting and complementary combinations. This current fashion trend features as the main garment on the car, a brightly-coloured canvas roof that unfolds in a ‘Silent Ballet’.

The Arctic White leather of the seats, truly a bold and distinctive colour, displays seamless handcraftsmanship through the piping, stitching and embroided RR monograms on all four headrests. The dashboard is lacquered with a clean Piano White wood finish, whilst the interiors of the coach doors are accented with that classic fashion staple, Black. Setting off this monochromatic treatment, the inside of the door pockets are lined with fine-to-the-touch patterned tailored silk, in one of the three vivid colours, a colour that also flows onto the hand-stitched two-tone steering wheel, which sits in the owner’s hand as comfortably as would any fine holdall or handbag.

Wraith Black Badge

“Black Badge is an attitude to life, an aspect of the Rolls-Royce brand that appeals to those people who are elusive and defiant, the risk takers and disruptors who break the rules and laugh in the face of convention. They are driven by a restless spirit. They play hard and they change theworld.”

Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars 

Bespoke is not simply a cosmetic exercise for Rolls-Royce, as demonstrated by the world’s leading luxury brand at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show when it launched Black Badge, the alter-ego of the marque. In addition to creating a Rolls-Royce that appealed visually to the aesthetic of a younger, edgier customer, the marque understood that those customers also demand something more – bespoke engineering that delivers on what this Rolls-Royce’s looks promise.

Sir Malcolm Campbell, Howard Hughes, Keith Moon, Yves Saint Laurent, Muhammad Ali and our own Charles Rolls to name a few, young gentlemen in a hurry, driven by their restless spirits to change the world in their own way. Untrammelled by social convention, these disruptors lived life on the edge, believing the ultimate power to be self-empowerment, pushing every boundary to realise their personal vision. Glamorous and daring, they lived fast, worked hard and played hard.

Today’s generation of young, self-empowered, self-confident rule-breakers are just as uncompromising and unapologetic in their choice of living and lifestyle as their predecessors. They follow the road less travelled, live the unconventional life, darkly obsessed by their own pursuits and accomplishments from which they derive a pure adrenaline rush.

Over recent years, many such individuals have gravitated towards the revitalised Rolls-Royce Motor Cars as the brand most appropriate to encapsulate their truly individual lifestyles, much as their celebrated predecessors did in days past.

Always pushing their own boundaries, they have asked Rolls-Royce to do the same. Excited by the infinite possibilities that its Bespoke approach offers, they have asked the marque “to produce a Rolls-Royce like no other, a Rolls-Royce that not only appeals to, and projects, our sensibilities, but is fundamentally different – like us.”

And, always ready to deliver a truly Bespoke answer to meet the customer’s desire, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has once again demonstrated its true luxury credentials as the world’s leading super-luxury brand. Rolls-Royce has transformed the very icons of its brand to access a darker side of its character more suited to this breed of successful people.

The result is Black Badge.

Already the most powerful Rolls-Royce in the world at 623hp (465kw), Wraith has always been the most driver-focused car in Rolls-Royce’s model range. However, understanding how driven this new breed of customer is and their wish to push the boundaries of life, Rolls-Royce’s engineering team worked painstakingly to give this most phenomenal fastback coupé a uniquely discernible extra edge.

By combining an extra wave of torque (+70Nm) with the already existing high power output, a completely redesigned air-suspension set up, new drive shafts and uprated 8-speed transmission, Rolls-Royce has produced an even more driver-focused, agile Wraith, while at the same time preserving the intrinsic elements of the effortless Rolls-Royce Magic Carpet Ride.

This Bespoke engineering, combined with the Black Badge aesthetic of the inverted RR-badge, Black Spirit of Ecstasy, blackened brightwork, and more masculine colour-blocking in the interior have proved a transformative moment for Rolls-Royce, opening it up to a new alternative clientele who expect something different from the brand. 

Charles Kaisin 

“Rolls-Royce, for me, signifies ultimate luxury. To be given the opportunity to partner with such a marque is a great privilege. Rolls-Royce has provided me with an enriching environment which has in turn allowed me the freedom to explore and push the boundaries of my own work.”

Charles Kaisin

In collaboration with the Rolls-Royce Art Programme, Belgian-born Artist Charles Kaisin has created a magnificent art installation for the 2017 Geneva Motor Show. 

The piece,3.1m in height, 2m in width and 2.1m in depth, is truly a magical piece which floats gently in the air. Created from individual hand-made origami pieces, it replicates Rolls-Royce’s captivating muse, a figure which graces the bonnet of every Rolls-Royce, the beloved Spirit of Ecstasy. 

To encapsulate the full silhouette of the Spirit of Ecstasy, each piece of 25cm by 25cm mirrored square, is hung precisely, to avoid compromising the muse’s true form.

In total, the art installation consists of 3,000 identical hand-crafted origami pieces. From multiple angles, the unique design demonstrates the level of craftsmanship, inventiveness, vision and attention to detail that Kaisin, Design teacher at Saint-Luc, Architecture School in Brussels, excels in. Just like the graceful figure that proudly guides each Rolls-Royce, this breath-taking framework, reflects light from its mystical figure allowing shadow and light to collaborate. 

Kaisin has showcased the attitude of freedom and the pursuit for individuality, an attitude that is reflected in many customers who truly embrace their liberty to create Bespoke Rolls-Royces. 

The installation takes a team of three people, three days to complete. Like a Rolls-Royce, this is an unprecedented piece of hand-crafted excellence.

To view this truly Bespoke collection of motor cars and this art work, Rolls-Royce invites members of the press to a Champagne reception at 16.30 on Tuesday 7^th March 2017 on the Rolls-Royce stand (6041, Hall 6) where Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, will give a short speech confirming that Bespoke is indeed Rolls-Royce.

The Staff at Rolls Royce have made a very special one off car for kids at a day surgery unit.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has unveiled a seminal new concept in luxury, crafted for one very special customer, St Richard’s Hospital Pediatric Day Surgery Unit in the marque’s home town of Chichester, West Sussex.

The appropriately-named Rolls-Royce SRH will allow children awaiting surgery to drive themselves to the operating theatre, through the Pediatric Unit corridors which are lined with ‘traffic signs’. The experience of ‘self-drive to theatre’ aims to reduce child patient stress.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars welcomed two test drivers from the Pediatric Unit at St Richard’s Hospital, Molly Matthews and Hari Rajyaguru, to the Home of Rolls-Royce. 

Molly and Hari viewed the car being unveiled in style at the company’s Goodwood Studio in the same manner for all Rolls-Royces VIP customers. 

This exclusive event served as final validation and pre-delivery inspection of the Rolls-Royce SRH ahead of the official handover to the patients, their families and the devoted day surgery team at St Richard’s Hospital.

In true Rolls-Royce style, the two children and their families enjoyed VIP hospitality with one notable addition to the usual customer experience. Molly and Hari both enjoyed first drives on the Rolls-Royce production line, an exceptionally rare privilege usually reserved for the marque’s Chief Executive during the validation process for new model families, and most recently actioned for the forthcoming Phantom 8. Molly, Hari and their families returned home in the chauffeured luxury of Rolls-Royce Ghosts.

“We are a proud member of the community here in West Sussex. The Pediatric Unit at St Richard’s Hospital, Chichester does such vital work in providing essential care to young people and their families,” said Torsten Müller-Ötvös, CEO, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. “We hope that the Rolls‑Royce SRH will serve to make the experience for young people during treatment a little less stressful.”

Created from the ground-up by the dedicated Bespoke Manufacturing team, the Rolls-Royce SRH presents to its very important customer a landmark study in Bespoke luxury. Akin to the conception of every Rolls-Royce Bespoke commission, a restless desire to understand the customer’s requirements informed every aspect of the design. The car is therefore specified with a two-tone paint-scheme of Andalusian White and Salamanca Blue and finished with a hand-applied St James Red coachline.

The interior space is appointed with the same finesse and attention-to-detail afforded to every Rolls-Royce patron, with the two-tone steering wheel, seats and self-righting wheel centres perfectly colour-matched to the St James Red coachline. A top speed of 10mph is achieved in seconds courtesy of power derived from a 24 volt gel battery that propels the car with the same whisper-quietness as Rolls-Royce’s magnificent V12 engines. For those preferring a more sedate journey, the speed setting is variable and can be limited to a statelier but no-less exhilarating 4mph.

Sir Henry Royce’s famous credo: “when it does not exist, design it,” echoes around the marque’s home in Goodwood, with this spirit highly evident in the conception of the Rolls-Royce SRH. The Bespoke Manufacturing team devoted over 400 hours of their own time to developing and hand-crafting this most extraordinary Rolls-Royce.

In addition to developing competency in new chassis and electronic technologies, the project team also utilised 3D printing techniques for the design. This included production of the iconic Spirit of Ecstasy and the bespoke paddle controls.

Lawrie Mewse, Project Leader of the Rolls-Royce SRH, said, “I am immensely proud of what the team has achieved. This project showcases the amazing skills and technology that exist in the Bespoke Manufacturing Team and across every area at the Home of Rolls Royce here at Goodwood. However, the most important thing is giving back to the local community and having a positive impact for children and their parents during their time in hospital.”

Marianne Griffiths, Chief Executive, of Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said, “Just like the joy it will bring to our young patients, the Rolls-Royce SRH is simply priceless. It is a very special gift and one of the most wonderful donations ever received by Love Your Hospital, our trust’s dedicated charity. On behalf of everyone at Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and especially the small team who volunteered so much of their own time in support of St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester and the children we care for.”

Sue Nicholls, Paediatric Matron at Western Sussex Hospitals NSH Foundation Trust, said, “It’s wonderful seeing a smiley face on the way to theatre, rather than an apprehensive one, and everyone caring for children at St Richard’s is so grateful to Rolls-Royce for this unique donation. We know boys and girls alike will love driving it and in the coming years it will help turn a daunting experience into a more fun and enjoyable one for hundreds and hundreds of children.”

The official handover of the Rolls-Royce SRH to St Richard’s Hospital will take place today.

The final Rolls Royce Phantom MK VII has been built, ready to usher in the MK VIII version.

From the creation of ‘New Phantom’ in 1925, every generation of this most fabled name in luxury has served to define its moment, not only in Rolls-Royce’s history, but in world history. Quite simply, it has been the choice of the people who have defined our world and made it turn for the last 90 years.

Phantom I (or ‘New Phantom’ as it was then known) carried the weight of expectation of living up to its eminent predecessor’s billing as ‘The Best Car in the World’. Needless to say it emphatically succeeded. In doing so, elevating Rolls-Royce to a place beyond a maker of superlative motor cars, to the very standard by which all luxury endeavours are judged.   

78 years later, Phantom VII, the first Goodwood Phantom heralded the renaissance of Rolls-Royce and established its own legend, returning the marque to its rightful place as the only conceivable mode of conveyance for the world’s most famous, wealthy and influential individuals.

Today, after 13 years defining luxury, Phantom VII leaves the stage with a fittingly artful tribute to the skills of the craftspeople at the Home of Rolls-Royce. This very last seventh generation Phantom signals the end of the first successful chapter in the renaissance of Rolls-Royce under new custodianship and the establishment of a true global centre of luxury excellence in West Sussex, England.  

Phantom – at the pinnacle of luxury for over 90 years 

Like its modern successor, that first generation Phantom was developed in an environment of fevered secrecy, borne of the weight of expectation surrounding such an important car. Lead engineer Ernest Hives even went as far as to scatter armoured plating around the factory to substantiate the project’s codename Eastern Armoured Car (EAC).  This kind of fervour and global scrutiny surrounding its development was perhaps not seen again for over seven decades, when a small team of engineers and designers ensconced themselves in total secrecy in a disused bank in central London. Their task was to create a Phantom, worthy of the name and reverential to its history, whilst making a truly bold statement on Rolls-Royce’s pinnacle position in a new luxury landscape.

The mission would have been familiar to Hives, who himself was tasked with creating a modern Rolls-Royce for an era of profound change. Both Phantoms I and VII had to plot the marque’s course amidst a backdrop of the shifting tastes and sensibilities of its wealthy patrons.

In designing Phantom VII, the task set before Ian Cameron and his team of designers cannot be overstated. Rolls-Royce, under new custodianship, had just five years to successfully design, develop, engineer and test a motor car worthy of re-entering the consciousness of a rapidly emerging yet increasingly global elite. The world was watching.

Rowing to the safety of pastiche or even tribute to Phantom I and its successors would have been a grave error. The 21^st century’s wealthy and influential demanded authenticity and sovereignty in the luxury houses they choose to patronise, so a thoroughly contemporary, singular vision of Rolls-Royce luxury was the only possible path.

3 January 2003 saw Cameron’s vision finally unveiled to the world as the global media descended upon the marque’s factory on only its third day of official operation. Like Hives and his ruse to keep the press off the scent, Phantom VII was designed and developed under a cloak of absolute secrecy. On unveiling that first car, the press were unanimous in their reaction, praising Rolls-Royce and its new custodians for bringing to the world a thoroughly modern interpretation of the classic lines and proportions that had maintained a stately presence at the world’s great occasions for three quarters of a century.

Underneath that imposing yet elegant coachwork lay the foundations on which the opening passages of the next great chapter in Rolls-Royce history was built. A totally new aluminium spaceframe, designed and engineered for strength and weight-saving, and propelled by a magnificent 6.75l naturally-aspirated V12 Rolls-Royce engine developed the abundant yet whisper-quiet performance that has become the hallmark of modern Rolls-Royces.

Behind Phantom’s now emblematic coach-doors lay an exquisitely crafted interior – realised by using only the finest materials by a new artisanal workforce drawn from the local area’s boat-building and saddle-making industries. These first craftspeople, part of a workforce on that first day of just 350, served as the masters to a burgeoning new generation of 1,700 skilled craftspeople, their careers made possible by the success of the all-important seventh-generation Phantom.

For the first time since the age of the coachbuilder, patrons of luxury were offered true personalisation through the marque’s Bespoke programme, with Phantom serving as an exquisite blank canvas from which its patrons’ boldest visions could be expressed.

Media and customer acclaim soon affirmed that, like Hives, Cameron and his team had re-established the legend of the ‘Best Car in the World’. It was stated at the time, that the establishment of the marque’s centre of excellence and the concurrent development and launch of Phantom in just five years, stood as the ‘last great automotive adventure.’ Phantom once again represented the start of a bold new era – a period many close to the marque acknowledge as the most significant in its history. In just 13 years, Rolls-Royce had established itself once again as the yardstick by which all other luxury goods are judged.

The final Phantom VII – a study in luxury

Now, as this most significant motor car prepares to gracefully leave the stage, it is fitting that the final Phantom VII, a beautifully appointed extended wheelbase limousine, has been created to celebrate the golden age of travel that Phantom defined.

This remarkable example, commissioned by a renowned contemporary Rolls-Royce collector, perfectly serves to illustrate the extraordinary attention-to-detail and deftness of touch that has defined the first chapter at the marque’s home in Goodwood, West Sussex.

The art of marquetry – so beautifully used throughout Phantom’s life – depicts a stylised 1930s ocean liner, reflecting this particular patron’s fascination with the design and iconography of this grand era. The nautical theme continues with the application of tone-on-tone embroidery evoking the movement of the sea, exquisitely applied to the interior’s Powder Blue leather.

In true Phantom style, every possible detail has been considered. The clocks, featured in both the front cabin and the partition wall have been designed to echo the style of the radio clocks that adorned grand ocean liners. The Bezel, expressing 24 time zones, sits proud of the main clock, and reminiscent of HG Well’s time machine, allows the owner to rotate it in either direction depending on where they find themselves in the world.

The maritime theme even extends to Phantom’s indulgent lambswool carpets which feature a hand-cut wake effect elegantly created by the marque’s master craftspeople – perhaps a nod to the fact that this final Phantom has passed, leaving the world in its own wake.

The exterior is finished in a stunning Blue Velvet, completed with a twin coachline with ocean liner motif to the shoulder, and offset beautifully by pinstripe tyres and a solid silver Spirit of Ecstasy. This carefully tended hand-crafted scheme completes a stunning final expression for the last Phantom of its kind.

The completion of this very final motor car, and the decommissioning of the Phantom production line after 13 years, sets the stage for the introduction of Phantom VIII, underpinned by an all-new aluminium architecture of luxury. Like its predecessor it will advance the standards set by its illustrious forbears.

Its arrival will herald the beginning of yet another great chapter in the history of the world’s most compelling and celebrated name in luxury.