Rolls-Royce is venturing into a new era of modern coachbuilding with its remarkable commission, the Boat Tail. This endeavor marks a significant step beyond the British marque’s renowned bespoke treatment and builds upon the success of the Sweptail introduced in 2017, which garnered international acclaim. With a dedicated team for special and permanent coachbuild designs, Rolls-Royce patrons now have the opportunity to create even more personalized expressions of their taste and lifestyle. The unveiled coupé showcases several groundbreaking features, including a synchronized, Santiago Calatrava-inspired mechanism that opens up a champagne hosting suite and parasol.
The Rolls-Royce Boat Tail embarks on a fresh voyage in the realm of coachbuilding, paying homage to the brand’s historical roots. Through a dedicated coachbuild design department and a team of skilled engineers and craftspeople, the desires of clients are interpreted and integrated into transformative and truly unique cars. This process goes beyond existing constraints, surpassing even the scope of Rolls-Royce’s renowned bespoke capabilities. To achieve this, the artistic vision translates both the patron’s intimately personal preferences and the broader cultural context in which the design exists, drawing inspiration from fields such as architecture, couture, color palettes, and more. The Boat Tail represents a rebirth of the hand-built nature and introduces a novel design approach.
“Coachbuild provides the freedom to transcend the usual constraints. Normally, there is a natural limit to Rolls-Royce bespoke due to the canvas we work with. At Rolls-Royce Coachbuild, we break through that limit, embracing the freedom of expression afforded by coachbuilding to shape a concept directly with our commissioning patrons,” explains Alex Innes, Head of Rolls-Royce Coachbuild Design.
“With Boat Tail, we have achieved this. We have created a trio of exceptional cars that, although they share a common body style, each bears the unique and highly personal imprint of the commissioning patron, thereby telling different stories. Boat Tail is unprecedented. Boat Tail is a distinct counterpoint to industrialized luxury,” adds the designer.
Three potential patrons share a deep appreciation for contemporary nautical design, particularly the pure form and craftsmanship of J-class yachts. This aligns perfectly with the long-held ambition of the Rolls-Royce design team to create a modern interpretation of the Boat Tail typology, grafting the hull forms of sailing boats onto the rolling chassis of a Rolls-Royce. Although the three cars share a common hand-formed body, each one is individually personalized, employing age-old skills combined with modern technologies. The first Boat Tail reflects the client’s continued fascination with their own restored 1932 Rolls-Royce Boat Tail.
The Boat Tail introduces a new aesthetic for the brand, merging a historical body type with contemporary visions. With its graceful stance, spanning nearly 5.8 meters in length, the design combines sculptural forms with playful functionality. The front profile seamlessly integrates the iconic Pantheon grille and headlights, with the latter creating an intense brow line. The exterior color, a complex tone of nautical blue embedded with metallic and crystal flakes, shimmers and transitions from the gradated bonnet across the rest of the body.
The nautical reference subtly pervades the design, not only in the rear. The wrap-around windscreen evokes motor boat visors, while the A-pillar leans gently rearward, the large front volumes, and the tapered rear create a sense of rising out of water under power. A progressive negative sculpture in the lower bodyside pays homage to the running boards of heritage designs, specifically the owner’s 1932 restoration. At the rear, the body culminates in a subtle sharpening, counterbalanced by the wide, deep-set lamps that emphasize the horizontal lines. The linear wood grain of the grey and black, open-pore Caleidolegno veneer visually elongates through brushed stainless steel pinstripe inlays, resembling an aft deck.
Inside, the interior leather mirrors the bonnet’s color transition, with the front seats in a darker blue shade and the rear seats finished in a lighter tone. Detailed stitching and piping enhance the intensity of the hues. The minimalistic fascia serves as a minimalist canvas, accentuating the jewel-like features of the unique, specially commissioned BOVET 1822 timepiece. Similarly, the instrument panel dials display a decorative technique called guilloché, previously used by fine jewellers and watchmakers and now making its appearance in the automotive industry. The lower cabin and floor feature open-pore Caleidolegno wood, reminiscent of wooden hull forms, providing a contrast to the softness of the blue cabin.
