Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail debuts; costs over ₹200 crore
British luxury automobile maker Rolls-Royce has debuted its latest coachbuilt masterpiece - the La Rose Noire Droptail, which is the first of the four Droptail commissions. The ultra-customized vehicle, which costs more than $30 million (approx. ₹211 crore), was recently presented to the clients who commissioned it at a private event close to Pebble Beach in California. With this pricing, it has become the world's most expensive car.
The La Rose Noire is inspired by the Black Baccara rose - a velvet-like flower that originates in France and is a favourite of the mother of the commissioning family. The colour of its petals is a dark pomegranate colour which appears almost black in shade but in direct light, it appears like a red with shimmer. These two hues form the primary colour palette of the vehicle.
To develop a paint theme that changes shade when viewed from different angles, just like the rose, specialists developed a new paint process and perfected it over 150 iterations. To get the rich colour variation, a secret base coat was followed by five layers of clear lacquer, each blended with a slightly different tone of red.
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The brightwork of the Droptail has been finished in Hydroshade but rather than being painted, each stainless-steel substrate was done with chrome electrolyte via the chrome plating process. This dark but reflective finish is continued on select metal details throughout the interior.
The two-seat roadster comes with a removable hardtop made from carbon fiber and electrochromic glass. The low-slung roof and a sleek exterior make the vehicle look like a high-tech luxury yacht. The grille is different from the traditional Pantheon-style grille which has vanes that are positioned straight and vertically. Vanes on the Droptail bend toward the top of the radiator and the company describes the new design as a ‘templebrow’ overhang.
The interior is minimalist with just three primary buttons on the curved shawl-style wooden dashboard and matching champagne chest. Majority of the controls are located in the center console. More than 1,600 wood pieces have been hand-finished and hand-placed over a two-year period inside the cabin. There is an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept timepiece integrated into the dashboard.
Under the hood, the vehicle is powered by a twin-turbocharged 6.75-liter V-12 engine with performance specs as found in the Rolls-Royce Ghost.
