Rolls-Royce Boat Tail debuts – three units only, priced from RM117 million; Rolls-Royce Coachbuild is back!

This is the Rolls-Royce Boat Tail. An ultra-luxury bespoke car created from the ground up for three of Rolls-Royce’s most important customers, all of which shared a single demand: “Show me something that I have never seen before.” Well, the result is the Boat Tail, and the blue example (clients’ favourite colour) you see here is the first of the three cars to be unveiled.

Its debut marks the return of Rolls-Royce Coachbuild, which is now a permanent fixture at the Home of Rolls-Royce. So if you’re flush with cash and don’t know how else to spend it, Coachbuild will help you explore the limits of your “personal tastes” through the creation of a vehicle that is uniquely “yours.” And they say money can’t buy happiness?

Onto the actual car. The Boat Tail moniker pretty much describes the vehicle in the most literal sense, referencing its rear end that mimics a J-class yacht’s hull. At the press of a button, the deck (with steel pinstripes!) opens butterfly-style, transforming it into a hosting suite. There’s even a chest that’s partitioned to house aperitifs on one side, and cuisine on the other. These are presented to the host at an angle of 15 degrees, which Rolls-Royce says is the quintessential British expression of service.

There are two refrigerators built specifically to house the clients’ favourite vintages of Armand de Brignac champagne, which are cradled elegantly around the highly polished, colour-matching frame. The refrigerators can rapidly cool beverages to six degrees – the optimum serving temperature of Armand de Brignac.

That’s not all. There’s an actual parasol that pops out telescopically, and there are mini rotating cocktail tables that can be deployed on either side of the deck. Underneath this is where you’ll find two carbon-fibre stools designed by Italian furniture maker Promemoria, wrapped with blue Rolls-Royce leather.

The front profile is unmistakably Rolls-Royce, complete with the pantheon grille and lights, and a wrap-around windscreen. There may be design similarities with the Phantom, but virtually all of the Boat Tail is bespoke. It features 1,813 completely new parts, including bespoke body panels, headlights and tail lights. The 15-speaker Bespoke Rolls-Royce Audio System has been reengineered to ensure it would work optimally in the Boat Tail.

The cabin design is rather minimalistic – again, custom designed to the clients’ (owners of a 1932 Boat Tail) preferences. Much of the modern technology is deliberately hidden, but the centrepiece features a bespoke clock fitting that showcases two unique Bovet 1822 timepieces. There’s also a handcrafted aluminium-leather case for the client’s treasured Montblanc pen in the glove box.

Powering the Boat Tail is the automaker’s 6.75 litre twin-turbo V12 engine, producing 563 hp at 5,000 rpm and a towering 900 Nm of torque from just 1,700 rpm. A ZF eight-speed automatic transmission with the Satellite Aided Transmission (SAT) system sends drive to the rear wheels. The car is fully homologated and road legal – it underwent the same dynamic testing as other Rolls-Royce models.

During the unveiling, company boss Torsten Müller-Ötvös said: “Rolls-Royce believes in complete authenticity and the Boat Tail is the culmination of a four-year collaboration with three of our most special clients. This is authentic luxury. This is contemporary patronage in its truest form. This is Rolls-Royce Coachbuild.” The price for a Boat Tail starts from £20 million (RM117 million).