Rolls-Royce Motor Cars PressClub · Article.
ROLLS-ROYCE REVEALS DROPTAIL COACHBUILD ROADSTER: APPLIED ART IN MOTION
20.08.2023 Press Release
Today, Rolls-Royce is proud to present Droptail: the third chapter in a remarkable story that reflects the absolute pinnacle of the Rolls-Royce brand, and by extension the super-luxury sector.
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Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
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Author.
Georgina Cox
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
- Rolls-Royce Motor Cars reveals Droptail, the next chapter in the marque’s Coachbuild story
- Coachbuild is the equivalent of Haute Couture and is the pinnacle of the Rolls-Royce brand
- Droptail is the first roadster body style in Rolls-Royce’s modern history
- Represents the most involved, progressive and refined Coachbuild project yet
- Striking aft deck section is aerodynamically functional: a feat of engineering unto itself
- Incorporates bold reinterpretations of the Rolls-Royce badge of honour and Pantheon grille
- Product of a remarkable four-year collaboration with the marque’s most ambitious clients
- Four Droptails will be built in total, each a highly unique expression of the commissioning clients’ character
“Today, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars unveils Droptail, an exquisite
coachbuilt motor car that resets our understanding of what is
possible in the luxury sector. Indeed, our dedicated Coachbuild
department is the only place in the world where true patrons of
luxury can create a motor car not for their image, but in their
image. These extraordinary products are roadgoing expressions of
applied art, built from the ground up over more than four years in
collaboration with a small constellation of our most ambitious
clients. These individuals join our designers, engineers and
craftspeople at every stage of their masterpiece’s development. The
result of this partnership is an historic motor car that is as
fundamentally unique as its owner that will enter Rolls-Royce
history as a testament to the shared ambition of our brand and its
clients. Droptail also answers a long-standing question – can a car
be created as art? With the unveiling of this extraordinary
roadster, the answer is, unequivocally, yes.”
Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce
Motor Cars
“Within Rolls-Royce design, the Coachbuild department is a place
without limitation, where the most ambitious ideas can be expressed
and a forward-looking vision of what is possible can be realised.
The nature of Coachbuild gives us the latitude to go beyond our
existing design strategy and explore bold, new and highly focussed
creative avenues. These motor cars represent the dreams of our
clients and capture a specific moment in time, while also projecting
a bold and timeless interpretation of the Rolls-Royce brand. Yet
Droptail, the most involved, progressive and refined Coachbuild to
date, is not a concept car or a design study – it is a motor car
that has been built to be driven.
Anders Warming, Design Director, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
“Motivated by the significance of shaping the world’s only
contemporary Rolls-Royce roadster, we felt liberated to re-examine
the fundamental tenets of Rolls-Royce design. For the first time in
our history, the iconic Pantheon grille has been significantly
reshaped, setting the tone for a highly progressive design
treatment: Droptail is a celebration of reduction and focus of
purpose that is entirely in tune with contemporary codes of luxury.
Like every coachbuilt Rolls-Royce, Droptail expresses a deeply
personal reflection of each of its commissioning clients’
sensibilities, which it was my great privilege to explore with them
over many years. The result is a landmark statement reflecting an
unprecedented era of confidence, clarity and precision within
Rolls-Royce design."
Alex Innes, Head of Coachbuild Design, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
ROLLS-ROYCE COACHBUILD: APPLIED ART
As a House of Luxury, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
constantly seeks to create personal and deeply meaningful luxury
products that reflect the marque’s clients’ ambitions and personal
codes of luxury. Rolls-Royce’s unparalleled Bespoke capabilities
enable clients to bring these desires to life through the commission
of beautiful, handcrafted and truly individual Rolls-Royce motor cars.
A small group of exceptional individuals wish to elevate this
remarkable, deeply personal experience even further and move beyond
the canvas of existing Rolls-Royce products. These highly ambitious
and discerning clients seek the opportunity to work directly with the
marque’s designers, engineers and craftspeople to create completely
unique Rolls-Royce motor cars beyond the brand’s product portfolio,
participating in every stage of their development. This is Rolls-Royce Coachbuild.
Creatives within Rolls-Royce Coachbuild approach the motor car
as an elevated expression of applied art – the discipline of creating
something beautiful, intellectually stimulating and emotionally
resonant, that has a clear and single purpose.
The renaissance of contemporary coachbuilding began in 2017 with
‘Sweptail’, a bold two-door coupé created in response to a client’s
wish to reprise the art of coachbuilding in partnership with
Rolls-Royce. With its sharply tapering outline and full-length glass
roof, it can be characterised as the Extrovert. It was followed by
the unveiling of Boat Tail in 2021, a highly social open-top that
amplified its clients’ love of hosting – a motor car that unashamedly
represents the Hedonist.
Today, Rolls-Royce is proud to present Droptail: the third
chapter in a remarkable story that reflects the absolute pinnacle of
the Rolls-Royce brand, and by extension the super-luxury sector. For
Droptail, the focus was placed on creating an intimate and cosseting
interior, which would also serve as an unprecedented canvas for highly
bespoke wood craft. Droptail captures the charm and embrace of
two-seat motoring – it truly is the Romantic.
Only four expressions of this remarkable motor car will be
created, each telling a unique and personal story that reflects the
ambition, visions and taste patterns of its commissioning client – all
of whom are significant collectors, patrons of the arts and business leaders.
RENAISSANCE OF THE ROADSTER BODY TYPE
Droptail represents the renaissance of the roadster
body type, which breaks free from the four-seat convention previously
associated with Rolls-Royce. In the first decades of the twentieth
century, Rolls-Royce supplied rolling chassis to coachbuilders, who
then added specially commissioned bodies. While European clients were
drawn to grand, four-door, chauffeur-driven saloons, a young and bold
generation of American clients were specifying two-door, two-seat
roadster bodies. In doing so, these assertive and confident
self-drivers disrupted the traditional, more formal codes of the brand.
Rolls-Royce Droptail is a highly contemporary projection of
these values – a concept each commissioning client found deeply
compelling. In capturing this spirit, Rolls-Royce Coachbuild designers
studied the 1912 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost ‘Sluggard’, the 1930
Rolls-Royce Phantom Brewster New York Roadster and the 1925
Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Piccadilly. Like these motor cars, Droptail
takes a highly distilled approach to design. Indeed, for Rolls-Royce’s
creatives and artisans, simplicity and absolute clarity is the most
challenging brief of all, but the most rewarding to behold.
DROPTAIL EXTERIOR: FOCUS AND INTENT
At 5.3 metres long and 2 metres wide, the exterior
dimensions of Droptail recall the compact proportions of early
Rolls-Royce roadsters. Yet, as the motor car’s progressive front end
treatment clearly signals, this is not a retrospective pastiche of a
classic Rolls-Royce. For Droptail, designers dared to introduce a new
interpretation of the marque’s most precious iconography: the Pantheon
grille and the Badge of Honour.
Ordinarily, the vanes of the marque’s Pantheon grille are
straight and upright, but for Droptail – and for the first time in
Rolls-Royce history – they are ‘kinked’ towards the top of the
radiator, gently reclining to create a ‘temple brow’ overhang. This
progressive treatment creates a more informal expression of
Rolls-Royce design principles, using shadow to connect the two front
headlamps visually. This strong horizontal graphic, bookended by
deep-set daytime running lights, forms the motor car’s powerful brow
line. Beneath, the grille falls to reveal relaxed, chamfered corners –
another reference to the informal spirit of Droptail.
In profile, Droptail is radically unique in its proportions,
which amplify the motor car’s driver-orientated configuration. This is
characterised by a low and assertive stance, snug and enveloping cabin
space and poised, taut surfacing. A dramatic negative body line is
sculpted into the coachwork, falling from the front wheel and
encouraging the eye to the rear of the motor car and to Droptail’s
‘sail cowls’, which denote that it is a strict two-seater. Named after
their resemblance to a yacht’s jib, these sharp, angular forms rise
behind the doors and curve gently inwards, subtly directing the eye to
the motor car’s occupants.
Droptail’s sail cowls frame an extraordinary feat of
engineering. The aft deck section, which sits between the occupants,
performs an aerodynamic function in that it produces downforce to
improve stability when the motor car is travelling at speed. Realising
this while retaining Droptail’s signature ‘dropping’ rear end – a
design style not ordinarily conducive to producing downforce without a
peripheral ‘wing’ – was a considerable challenge. Indeed, the aft
deck’s final form is the product of a deep collaboration between the
marque’s designers and aerodynamicist and was resolved over a two-year
period and 20 iterations.
This elegant innovation led Droptail’s commissioning clients to
challenge the marque’s designers with ever more complex requests. On
reviewing Droptail in profile, one client declared that nothing but
the door handles, Spirit of Ecstasy and Rolls-Royce monogram should
interrupt its monolithic surfaces. To fulfil this request, engineers
developed a door handle that incorporates a hidden lock mechanism and
a discreetly integrated indicator lamp. The design team’s
reinterpretation of the Rolls-Royce ‘Badge of Honour’ is another
testament to the freedoms within this department – it is distilled
into a stainless steel ‘Double R’ monogram, which is placed on both
sail cowls.
Rolls-Royce Droptail concludes with a rear treatment that evokes
the roadster spirit but also references nautical design. The generous
horizontal transom section uses the sky’s natural light to create an
impression of width and solidity – a design feature inspired by racing
sailing yachts of the thirties. The vertical rear lamps also cant
forwards to signal the motor car’s dynamic intent. Underneath, the
tall rear diffuser is finished with a semi-transparent lacquer,
highlighting its raw carbon-fibre finish and providing a visual
foundation that anchors Droptail to the road.
DROPTAIL ROOF: A SECOND CHARACTER
A removable hard top has been designed to give
Droptail two very distinct characters: without its roof, Droptail is a
lithe, open-top roadster; with the roof installed, it is a formidable
and dramatic coupé. Droptail’s exceptionally low-slung profile and
‘postbox’ glasshouse is an intentional statement of attitude,
partially inspired by ‘hot-rod’ and ‘Kustom’-style modified cars of
the mid-twentieth century. These vehicles were unique in that sections
of the metalwork between the roof and the main bodywork were removed –
or ‘chopped’ – by hand in order to lower the roofline and create a
bold and assertive aesthetic statement.
Rolls-Royce’s contemporary, high luxury expression of this
attitude was considerably more complex. Droptail’s removable roof is
made from carbon fibre to accommodate the dramatic curvature and crisp
edging of its cantilevered design. Each client wished to use their
motor car around the world in multiple climates. For this reason, the
roof incorporates electrochromic glass that alters the amount of light
entering the interior at the touch of a button. The electrical
connection for the roof is channelled through the mounting points,
allowing effortless installation and removal.
DROPTAIL INTERIOR: INNER CLARITY
Droptail celebrates the intimacy of a two-seat
roadster with a cocooning interior, cosseting and protecting occupants
with a high waist-rail and low seating position. Commissioning clients
were particularly compelled by the notion of a highly focussed,
minimalistic approach to the interior. In response to this,
Rolls-Royce designers sketched a fascia that celebrated minimalism and
analogue tactility. Just three primary buttons are visible, yet all of
the functionality of a contemporary Rolls-Royce remains. The fascia
alone took four years of development, testing and homologation.
This minimalist approach to the entire interior shape and form
of Droptail was created to celebrate the discipline of woodcraft
without interruption, thereby showcasing the exceptional craft skills
of Rolls-Royce artisans. The generous surfaces and expressive
sculpture carefully consider the orientation and specific placement of
wood, highlighting its richness and striking natural beauty,
purposefully catching light from multiple angles and recalling the
organic forms of the most contemporary cabinetmakers.
The most prominent gesture within the cabin is the curved shawl
panel; a vast, uninterrupted and intricately formed section of wood
that wraps around the driver and their companion, evoking a sense of
companionship and intimacy that is entirely in tune with the romantic
character of this cocooning two-seater roadster.
A theatrical cantilevered plinth-like armrest between the two
seats makes a bold signature statement with its uninterrupted,
elliptical profile. At the touch of a button, the plinth glides
backwards and forwards, allowing effortless access to the rotary
information and entertainment system controller when required, then
hiding it from view thereafter. Recalling the interior’s cosseting
treatment, the plinth itself is embraced by inner seat bolsters
finished in soft, supple leather.
Achieving the remarkable and unprecedented level of surface
simplicity, which is such a vital part of Droptail’s presence and
character, was the most challenging undertaking in Coachbuild history.
DROPTAIL ENGINEERING: FREEDOM THROUGH BESPOKE
Completely new underpinnings were developed for
Rolls-Royce Droptail beyond the marque’s existing architecture.
Reserved for Droptail’s exclusive use, this rigid monocoque is
constructed from aluminium, steel and carbon fibre. Steel is used for
the load-bearing front wing and door sections, but from the b-pillar
rearwards carbon fibre is used, comprising three bonded sections.
Lightweight and infinitely formable, carbon fibre enabled the bold
compound curves of Droptail’s form to be realised. Indeed, the rear
quarter panels are the largest carbon fibre panels ever created for a
Rolls-Royce motor car.
In the spirit of the earliest coachbuilt Rolls-Royces, whereby a
body was lowered onto a rolling chassis, Droptail’s exterior form is
mounted on a contemporary Rolls-Royce drivetrain, ensuring a familiar
experience to commissioning clients, all of whom are long-standing
Rolls-Royce collectors. To reflect Droptail’s fleet visual character,
the twin-turbocharged 6.6-litre V12 engine has been subtly enhanced to
deliver an additional 30bhp and an elevated torque figure of 840Nm –
the first time that engine power output has been increased for a
Rolls-Royce Coachbuild project.
DROPTAIL: A SHARED LEGACY. A BOLD FUTURE
The focus and precision of Droptail’s execution
represents the Coachbuild department’s most detailed and technically
demanding undertaking to date. It also represents Coachbuild’s
standing as the highest expression of applied art. Droptail’s bold
reimagining of Rolls-Royce iconography, focus on simplicity and
permanence as a monument to its owners represents both a new standard
in the luxury sector and clear confirmation that coachbuilding will
form a significant part of Rolls-Royce’s long-term strategy. Indeed,
Droptail is a clear statement that the future of Rolls-Royce will be
built in collaboration with its clients.