Rolls Royce La Rose Noire Droptail costs a whopping Rs 250 crore
The La Rose Noire Droptail is a unique coach-built car that takes its inspiration from the Baccara Rose with shimmering paintwork on the outside and bespoke wooden inlay on the inside.
Rolls-Royce has just debuted its latest masterpiece, a Droptail christened La Rose Noire. Directly translated to ‘The Black Rose’, the La Rose Noire is named after the Baccara Rose, a favourite of the commissioning family’s matriarch. This customised Droptail is the first of only four such unique commissions, and at a projected price of over $30 million becomes the most expensive car yet. (Image: Rolls Royce)
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The first thing that needs speaking about has to be the colour. The Baccara Rose is an intense flower bred in France. Its velvety petals shift colour between almost black in the shade and a deep shimmering red in the light. This also forms The La Rose Noire’s two primary colours called ‘True Love’ and ‘Mystery’. The exterior shade of the Boat Tail is essentially the True Love paint which, like the flower, shifts colour depending on the angle it is viewed from. The paint creation process, like the car, was also complex with a secret base layer followed by five lacquer layers with varying tones of red. The 22-inch alloys then feature the Mystery paint, which again, like the flower, appears black and shifts to red under sunlight. (Image: Rolls Royce)
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The design | In terms of design, the Rose Noire is the first modern two-seat roadster complete with a new monocoque chassis. This has been constructed in steel, aluminium and carbon fibre. The car is 5.3 metres long and 2 metres wide and while smaller than the Spectre, Rolls-Royce’s electric car, it is completely bespoke. The roof, which is removable by the way, is super low-slung and features a steep slope towards the rear. Complemented by the long tail section of the Boat Tail, the overall silhouette is that of a sportier roadster than that of an ultra-luxury vehicle. The roof panel is made of carbon fibre with an electrochromic glass section that switches between translucent and clear at the touch of a button. The front end, on the other hand, is probably the most familiar-looking section on the La Rose Noire. The grille has been modified slightly and unlike the straight vanes on the conventional Pantheon-style grille, the La Rose Noire’s vanes are bent at the top, the company describing the design as a ‘templebrow’ overhang. (Image: Rolls Royce)
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The interior | Moving over to the inside, one is greeted by a fairly minimal interior. The highlight is the wooden cocoon completely created and sculpted by hand using a total of 1,603 triangles sourced from a Black Sycamore tree in France. About 1,070 pieces are laid symmetrically to form the background while 533 asymmetric triangles have been painted red and laid to represent falling petals. At the centre of the dash is a bespoke timepiece by Audemars Piguet, a special commission by the client. The watch is removable, thanks to a powered clasp mechanism and the strap, and the replacement blank head watch is stored in a soft leather pouch in the door panniers. The overall interior theme, like the rest of the car, is Baccara Rose and as such gets the True Love red paint and the deeper Mystery red paint, both of which shimmer just like the Rose. (Image: Rolls Royce)
Powering the Boat Tail is a 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 engine that produces 601 hp of maximum power and 840 Nm of peak Torque. This is a familiar engine, of course, but has been tuned differently. For context, the Phantom’s V12 churns out 571 hp of maximum power and 900 Nm of peak torque. (Image: Rolls Royce)
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What Rolls-Royce says | Speaking about the La Rose Noire, Rolls-Royce, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, says, “La Rose Noire Droptail is a love story, thoughtfully captured and stunningly projected onto the canvas of a Rolls-Royce motor car. It is an expression of the deep and passionate partnership between a husband and wife who are the heads of a prominent international family – to be part of their remarkable story is a privilege. Furthermore, La Rose Noire Droptail stands as a testament to our brand’s relentless pursuit of perfection, where artistry and the vision of a single client truly harmonise. In every detail of this historic commission, there are echoes of both Rolls-Royce’s rich heritage and the commissioning clients’ character, from its captivating yet formidable form to its flawless and elegant romantic gestures. La Rose Noire Droptail, like the remarkable clients who dared to make such a potent and contemporary statement, will be written into Rolls-Royce history forever.” (Image: Rolls Royce)
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The pricing | As far as pricing goes, Rolls-Royce usually doesn’t share details of the coach-built commissions, but each of the four Droptails is thought to have cost their owners over $30 million. This works out to just under Rs 250 crore at the time of writing. After four years in development, the car was presented to the commissioning family at a private event in Pebble Beach, California. (Image: Rolls Royce)
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