Rolls-Royce Coachbuild presents the ultimate expression of this incredible marque and an unparalleled concept in the luxury sector. In the Coachbuild department, the world's most influential individuals collaborate with our designers, engineers, and craftsmen to breathe life into entirely new ideas. Together, they create extraordinary cars that not only become a cherished part of the client's personal story but also contribute to the proud history of the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars brand. Clients curate every aspect of these masterpieces, which are crafted by, in my opinion, the most talented team of experts in the luxury industry. Arcadia Droptail is an example of this approach. This car is deeply connected to the client's personality and preferences, and in capturing their character, we are authorized to make inspirational design, craftsmanship, and engineering statements that showcase our ambition and unparalleled capabilities.

Chris Brownridge, Chief Executive, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

"Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail beautifully demonstrates the true nature of the Coachbuild proposition in the complete transformation of the car's character. Each Droptail commission reflects a deeply personal understanding and interpretation of the underlying design. With the Arcadia Droptail model, we witness courage in minimalism and subtlety, informed by an individual's lifestyle who has a unique respect for British luxury. By creating this historic car, we once again demonstrate our unparalleled ability to synthesize and execute Bespoke design at the highest level."

Anders Warming, Design Director, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

"The significance of the Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail model lies in its subtlety. It is a projection of an individual who values clarity and precision in all spheres of life - from their passion for fine cuisine, carefully curated personal and professional spaces, to an affinity for contemporary design. This car is one of the most faithful expressions of personal style and sentiment we have ever created in the Coachbuild department. By capturing their spirit, we reveal a unique reverence for simplicity, serenity, and beautiful restrained elegance - something that has been a privilege for me to be a part of."

Alex Innes, Head of Coachbuild Design, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is pleased to present Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail, a refined Bespoke expression symbolizing tranquility. Arcadia Droptail epitomizes a quiet irreverence towards expected codes of luxury, celebrating the purity of form and natural materials while serving as a bold statement of the client's personal taste. Commissioned by an individual with a pronounced affinity for architecture and design, Arcadia Droptail is a testament to the sensibilities and personal codes of luxury of its owner, defined by purity and subtle restraint, reflecting their firm belief in simplifying complexity to reveal inherent, fundamental essence.

This commissioned novelty is named after the mythical realm of Arcadia - a place depicted in ancient Greek mythology as a "Paradise on Earth" - a land known for its exceptional natural beauty and perfect harmony. As an inspiring haven, Arcadia Droptail was envisioned by the client as a tranquil space characterized by reduction, material depth, and tactility that would serve as a refuge from the complexity of their business life.

Capturing the theme of tranquility, Rolls-Royce Coachbuild designers embarked on an exploration of designs, sculptures, and architecture from the client's favorite regions around the world. This includes the precision and richness of modernist tropical gardens in locations such as Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam, as well as British "Biomimetic" architecture, which celebrates organic forms and material honesty.

In addition to these references, the client was also inspired by the car itself and the purity of the Droptail model's design concept. The client who commissioned the car insisted that their four-wheeler be absolutely faithful to the earliest hand-drawn sketch they first saw in 2019.

The profile of this highly contemporary projection of a roadster-type body was what strongly resonated with the client who commissioned the car. They were particularly drawn to the bold, low stance of the car, cabin design, and dramatic body lines. They also immediately recognized the nautical inspiration behind the Droptail model's "sail cowls": named for their resemblance to a yacht's mast, these sharp, angular forms rise behind the doors and gently curve inward, subtly directing the viewer's gaze towards the car's occupants.

Exterior as the perfect homage to the Droptail model

To fulfill the client's ambition and honor the form of the Droptail car, Rolls-Royce Coachbuild designers developed a serene, natural two-tone color scheme for the body. The client's aspiration was to define a timeless white color that, at first glance, appears as a solid color but creates a level of intrigue upon closer examination under natural light. To achieve this, the main body color is a solid white with aluminum and glass particles. This not only creates vivid light when it hits the body but, upon closer inspection, creates an illusion of infinite color depth. Rolls-Royce brand specialists have developed a more expressive, striking metallic effect using larger dimensions of aluminum particles. The client was very specific and involved in their request for a Bespoke silver color that contrasts with the white, not only in color but also in intensity.

In a key departure from the other three Droptail models in this series, the carbon fiber used for the construction of the lower parts of the Droptail has been painted in a Bespoke silver color instead of remaining fully or partially exposed, visually "lifting" the car in profile to intensify its sleek, dynamic intent.

In homage to the brilliant finish of the gleaming details on historic Rolls-Royce cars, which particularly fascinated the client, the outer grille frame, 'swan necks' pieces, and 22-inch aluminum wheels are fully polished.

While the exterior palette of Arcadia Droptail is rich in subtle details, its fundamental goal is to celebrate the shape and proportions of the body. The client was particularly attracted to the clean, monolithic surface layers of the Droptail model and the bold use of negative sculpture - features that are enhanced by the subtle colors of the car, which reflect sunlight and cast dramatic shadows, highlighting many subtle gestures of Droptail design.

Interior with wood at the center of attention

As the outer part of Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail celebrates the shape of the car, the interior is a deeply personal reflection of the client's individual aesthetic sense, a style that the client has perfected in their homes and business spaces around the world. The color palette and treatment of materials in Arcadia Droptail are conceived as a truly personal statement and instantly recognizable as the client's personal seal who ordered the car.

The development of wood was a central part of the Arcadia Droptail interior and the focus of the client, whose very specific expectations were directed towards the texture, color, and richness of the material itself. The client shared many examples of preferences and inspiration from architecture, homes, and classic cars to guide Rolls-Royce brand Coachbuild designers and material experts.

Santos Straight Grain was ultimately chosen as the most modern statement, based on its rich texture and visual intrigue stemming from its unique, interconnected pattern.

Using this dense hardwood in the interior of the Droptail model presented a significant challenge for the brand's craftsmen. Santos Straight Grain has one of the finest types of texture of all types of wood used in Rolls-Royce cars - if not handled with the utmost care, it easily cracks during processing and must be 'checked' during the drying process. Despite the challenges of working with this delicate material, Santos Straight Grain is used throughout the Droptail model, including the aerodynamically functional rear part of the platform, where the open veneer is set at a perfect angle of 55°. To achieve perfect composition over complex geometry, Rolls-Royce brand craftsmen used a total of 233 wooden pieces throughout Arcadia Droptail, with 76 pieces applied only to the rear platform.

Since Arcadia Droptail will be used internationally, including in some tropical climates, special attention has been paid to the development of protection systems and testing processes for external wooden surfaces. Coatings used on superyachts were initially considered but discarded because they require regular maintenance and reapplication. Instead, a Bespoke lacquer has been developed that requires only one application for the entire lifespan of the car.

To confirm this coating, Rolls-Royce experts devised a unique testing protocol where veneered pieces were subjected to an exhaustive cycle within a special machine that simulates extremes of global weather conditions. This included occasional spraying of wood samples with water, between periods when they were left to dry in the dark and exposed to heat and intense light.

This was repeated over 1,000 hours on 18 different samples before the brand's experts were satisfied with the durability of the pieces. In total, wooden pieces and protective coating required more than 8,000 hours of development.

Vision of precision and uniqueness

The mask made of Santos Straight Grain veneer features a clock conceived and developed by Rolls-Royce Coachbuild designers and craftsmen. This expression of haute horlogerie is the most complex watch face ever made for Rolls-Royce: the assembly process alone took five months, preceded by over two years of development.

The clock features an exceptional geometric guilloché pattern in raw metal with 119 facets. This is a symbolic gesture towards the brand's heritage; the client first saw the sketch of this car in late 2023 - the year Rolls-Royce celebrated its 119th anniversary. The specially designed clock face also includes partially polished, partially brushed hands and 12 'chaplets' - or hour markers. To ensure the readability of the clock, experts gave each chaplet a bridge for filling and hand-painted them individually using a camera capable of magnifying the image up to 100 times.

While many haute horlogerie methods were used to develop the watch, testing and validation standards at Rolls-Royce brand are higher than those in the watch world. This required brand specialists to use a wide range of materials. For example, instead of anodizing the minute marker of the watch, which is common practice in watchmaking, it was finished with a ceramic coating chosen for its stability over time, as well as aesthetic value. Small areas of the coating were laser-engraved to reveal the glossy finish of the aluminum material underneath. Like every piece within the watch, including the Bespoke 'double R' monogram, they are individually made of solid stainless steel and hand-polished before assembly.

The themes of the watch are paired with the instrument panels, sharing materials, techniques, and execution. They feature the same repeating guilloché pattern, as well as brushed and polished shiny details and matte white inserts, reminiscent of the car's color scheme.

Interior as a study of white color

The leather interior is finished in two completely Bespoke shades, named after the client and reserved exclusively for their use. The main leather color is a Bespoke White shade, continuing the theme of the exterior color, while the contrasting leather is a Bespoke tan color, developed to perfectly complement the chosen wood.

The interior also includes an extraordinary fascia veneer that unifies all four Droptail motor cars and is the largest continuous wood piece ever seen in a Rolls-Royce motor car. In Arcadia Droptail, it is made of the same Santos Straight Grain veneer as the rear platform, joined at the same 55° angle, with individually shaped leaves that seamlessly continue into the door casings. CAD tools were used to map the placement of each wooden piece, and although it appears to be made of only two sections of veneer, this panel consists of 40 sections, with each digitally mapped before being applied to the car.

Applying wood to the complex curves of the Droptail model's interior required Rolls-Royce engineers to develop an entirely new substructure for several components. The dramatic geometry of the dashboard, door casings, and central console armrest had to be incredibly robust to ensure the stability of the wooden pieces when placed in position. Engineers used layered carbon fiber techniques used in Formula 1 to develop an incredibly strong base onto which the wood could be applied, ensuring it remains secure regardless of the dynamic extremes the car experiences.

Statement of a cosmopolitan lifestyle

In keeping with the international lifestyle of its owner, the car is specified with left-hand drive to facilitate use worldwide. This international dimension was so important to the client who commissioned the car that the Coachbuild Collective wanted to experience them at various locations worldwide before it was built. Coachbuild section designers used the brand's "holodeck" to facilitate this - a unique virtual 3D environment where the client uses advanced virtual reality (VR) glasses to see the car as it would appear in specific locations around the world.