The unveiling of Rolls-Royce’s new £20million Boat Tail personalised convertible today set tongues wagging about which super-rich couple commissioned it – with industry rumours naming them as Jay Z and Beyoncé.
The British luxury marque said the car had been designed for a wealthy and ‘flamboyant’ duo with a love of chilled champagne and alfresco meals – hence the vehicle’s incredible rear deck housing a dinner set, rotating cocktail tables with matching chairs and a parasol that automatically extends out.
The convertible grand tourer, the first of an exclusive trio of highly personalised nautically-based limousines, was designed for the Mediterranean backroads of the Cote d’Azur, which Jay Z and Beyoncé regularly visit and where they enjoy outdoor picnics.
It includes a fridge set to 6C, the precise temperature required for the owner’s favourite Armand de Brignac luxury vintage, priced up to £57,950 a bottle. Earlier, this year, Jay Z sold his 50% stake in the firm to Moët Hennessy for an unknown sum.
The blue colour scene could also be a subtle hint to the couple’s identity, as Beyoncé and Jay Z’s nine-year-old daughter in called Blue Ivy.
An industry source told The Telegraph: ‘It’s thought this fantastic car has been commissioned by Beyoncé and Jay Z, with all its detailing matching their favourite things.’ Today Rolls-Royce refused to comment on the speculation.
It has taken four years of ‘mind-boggling attention to detail’ to design and manufacture in collaboration with clients who wanted a unique car to ‘mark a sense of occasion’, says the legendary British marque.
And to put the exclusivity of the commission into context, the £20million price-tag would buy you the equivalent of around 40 personalised flagship Rolls-Royce Phantom limousines costing around £500,000 each (including bespoke extras).
It is also double the cost of the previous two most expensive new cars in the world: Rolls-Royce’s own £10million coachbuilt Sweptail of 2017 – the car that sparked new Boat Tail project; and Bugatti’s one-off £11.5million ‘La Voiture Noir’ hypercar that was first shown at the March 2019 Geneva Motor Show.
The reason for the vast expense is that the car has been engineered and designed from the ground up as a near one off.
With production cars, the total costs are spread across the number of cars produced – which in the case of Rolls-Royce will go into hundreds and thousands of vehicles over time. With mainstream car-makers those costs will be spread across millions of vehicles.
In the case of the Boat Tail, the ‘Coachbuild’ construction means the chassis, engine and underpinnings may be based on the existing Phantom limo, but everything above that and every detail – from the largest ever hand-made panels, to the most intricate mechanism, and clock – has to be designed and created from scratch.
It is therefore not a ‘standard’ car with a lot of bespoke extras and luxuries added. It is a brand new car – effectively a one-off model – though in this case the total costs have been shared across three vehicles, each of which is personalised to the owner.
In artwork terms, is the difference between hanging a high quality print on your wall, or owning the only original oil-painting.
When mainstream manufacturers launch a new model, they usually have to invest around £1billion before the first car comes off the line. But that average cost is reduced every time an additional car comes off the line, so the average costs reduce significantly.
In the case of this coachbuild Boat Tail, much of the total cost has to be divided just three ways.
Measuring just under 5.8 meters long, the new four-seater two-door Rolls-Royce Boat Tail is the first to be built by Rolls-Royce’s new Coachbuild department at the company’s boutique headquarters in Goodwood, Sussex.
Rolls-Royce say they have decided not to name the customers, but described them as an extremely well-heeled self-made couple ‘with a sense of style and a love of travel, adventure, and entertaining who collect cars, watches, pens and fine champagnes and like sailing’ – all of which are reflected in their customised car.
Rolls-Royce’s new Coachbuild arm has been set up specifically to capitalise on the growing number of similar such super-rich customers who want a luxury limousine that they can help to create and is unique to them.
The new grand cruiser is inspired by the elegant J-Class yachts of the early 20th Century and the original ‘Boat Tail’ Rolls-Royces of 1920s and ’30s which in turn were inspired by them.
It is left-hand drive suggesting it will be driven mostly on the Continent.
A treasure chest hidden under a veneer rear deck
The most eye-catching features centre around the Boat Tail’s ‘aft deck’ – a modern interpretation of a yacht’s wooden rear deck in a special grey and black Caleidolegno wood veneer that is ‘visually elongated’ using brushed stainless steel pinstripe inlays.
At the press of a button this rear deck opens up like sweeping ‘butterfly wings’ to reveal an intricate ‘hosting suite’ for alfresco entertaining and displaying ‘a treasure chest of moving parts’.
To the left is a double refrigerator with special cradles to securely stow two bottles of champagne at a precise temperature. The aficionado owner’s favourite Armand de Brignac vintage – which can cost up to £57,950 a bottle – should be stored at six degrees Centigrade for consumption – the exact setting the fridge operates at.
The section also provides space for four glasses, napkins and other accoutrements.
The right side is focussed on fine dining with a bespoke alfresco picnic and cuisine section with temperature controlled food warmers and cutlery made by Christofle of Paris and engraved with ‘Boat Tail’.
Two pop-out cocktail tables open out – one at each side – and rotate elegantly ‘to mimic the offering of an attendant’ for aperitifs and dining.
Two matching slim-line interlocking stools, designed by Rolls-Royce and created by Italian furniture maker Promemoria, use the same carbon-fibre and blue leather from the car and are stowed inside.
Most dramatic of all is the sun shade parasol on an extending telescopic arm. It emerges, on demand, from the rear centre line beneath the opening rear deck wings ‘in anticipation of fine weather’. The interior is also cooled to maintain constant temperatures regardless of weather.
Rolls-Royce says the sophisticated rear-deck reflects the character of its clients and marks something ‘never seen before in the automotive world’ noting: ‘At the press of a button, the deck opens in a sweeping butterfly gesture, to reveal an intricate and generous hosting suite. ‘Its complex movement was inspired by cantilever concepts explored by renowned architect Santiago Calatrava.
‘Hinged towards the centre line, the synchronised balletic opening movement reveals a treasure chest of moving parts that offer themselves to the host at a precise angle of 15 degrees. This subtle gesture of presentation reflects a genteel and quintessentially British expression of service.’
Luxury car, luxury watches and even a luxury pen
Another unique luxurious touch blends the pinnacle of automotive and clock-making craftsmanship.
To keep time, two reversible ‘His & Hers’ two-sided timepieces by Swiss-based ‘BOVET 1822’ – either one of which can be taken off the owner’s wrist and mounted on the dashboard fascia as a clock, while the other is stored in a special tray compartment.
Rolls-Royce said of the three year collaboration: ‘The mechanically minded clients sought to break new ground in horology. As esteemed and passionate collectors of both the Swiss-based House of BOVET and Rolls-Royce, their vision was to create exquisite, ground-breaking timepieces for their Boat Tail.
‘The result is an accomplishment never before realised in either industry. Two fine reversible timepieces, one for the lady and one for the gentleman, have been designed to be worn on the wrist, or, placed front and centre within Boat Tail’s fascia as the motor car’s clock.’
That’s not the end of the bonkers exclusivity.
A particularly cherished Montblanc pen resides in a discretely placed, hand-crafted, case of aluminium and leather, in Boat Tail’s glove box. Collecting pens is another of the clients’ great passions.
Blemish-free leather in a favourite shade of blue with a ‘light metallic sheen’ is sourced from hides of ‘stress-free’ Alpine cows in Bavaria.
Instrument dials are adorned with decorative Guilloche patterning as perfected by fine jewellers and watchmakers and there’s an elegant thin-rimmed two-tone steering wheel.
Wooden trim in the lower cabin and floor area echo a ship’s hull. And the hollow section of floor sills specially engineered to double as a resonance chamber to provide bass speaker ‘surround sound’ for 15-speaker audio system.
The exterior paint is a special shade of blue – ‘the client’s favourite colour’ – with embedded metallic and crystal flakes to catch the light.
The owners better hope the saying ‘it rains in the South of France’ is on the money
Unlike most convertibles with a roof that stows away at the touch of a button, the Boat Tail has an ‘unconventional’ single-piece carbon-fibre and canvas removable fixed-canopy roof.
The idea is that owner will drive with it in place from, say, a home in rainy Britain, then remove it for open-topped driving when at a chateau in sunny South of France or Monaco.
Rolls-Royce explains: ‘If inclement weather is encountered while the roof is removed, a temporary tonneau is stowed for static transitory shelter.’
Nautical-style wrap-around windscreen recalls the visor on motor launches while the styling and tapered rear is designed to mirror ‘a motor launch rising out of the water’.
With the Spirit of Ecstasy ‘Flying Lady’ mascot at its prow, and a hand-painted darker graduated bonnet, the vast grille is hewn from block of aluminium and the car features the largest hand-beaten panels ever used on a Rolls-Royce.
