(MENAFN- Mid-East) Rolls-Royce Motor Cars presents Arcadia, the third Coachbuild Droptail commission
. Celebration of the form: uniquely pure reflection of Droptail's principal design
. Features most complex clock face in Rolls-Royce history. Assembly alone took five
months
. Wood sections took 8,000 hours to create
. Commission named after Arcadia, a place known in Ancient Greek mythology as
'Heaven on Earth'
. Droptail is the first roadster body style in Rolls-Royce's modern history
. Coachbuilt masterpiece presented to commissioning client at private ceremony in
Singapore
“Rolls-Royce Coachbuild is the pinnacle expression of this incredible brand, and an
unmatched concept in the luxury sector. In this department, the world's most influential
individuals collaborate with our designers, engineers and craftspeople to bring completely
new ideas to life. Together, they create exquisite motor cars that not only become a cherished part of the commissioning client's personal story but also add to the proud history of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. Clients curate every facet of these masterpieces, which are brought into being by what I believe is the most talented team of experts in the luxury industry. Arcadia Droptail exemplifies this approach. This motor car is deeply connected to the client's personality and preferences, and in capturing their character we have been empowered to The Drive, Westhampnett, Chichester, PO18 0SH, UK +44 (0)1243 384000 ...
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited. Registered in England and Wales. Company number 3522604. Registered address: Summit ONE, Summit Avenue, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 0FB.
make inspiring design, craft and engineering statements that show the world our ambition,
and our unparalleled abilities.”
Chris Brownridge, Chief Executive, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
“The Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail wonderfully demonstrates the true nature of a Coachbuild
proposition in completely transforming the character of a motor car. Each Droptail commission
reflects a deeply personal understanding and interpretation of a foundational design. With
Arcadia Droptail we witness daring in minimalism and subtlety, informed by the lifestyle of an
individual who has a unique appreciation for British luxury. In creating this historic motor car,
we once again prove our peerless abilities in synthesising and executing Bespoke design at
its highest level.”
Anders Warming, Design Director, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
“The significance of Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail lies in its subtlety. It is a projection of an
individual who values clarity and precision in all areas of their life – from their passion for fine
cuisine, their highly curated personal and professional spaces and affinity with contemporary
design. This motor car is one of the most faithful expressions of an individual's personal style and sensibilities we have ever created within the Coachbuild department. In capturing their spirit, we reveal a unique appreciation for simplicity, serenity and beautifully restrained elegance – one that was a privilege for me to have been a part of.”
Alex Innes, Head of Coachbuild Design, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is delighted to present Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail, an exquisite
coachbuilt expression of tranquillity. Arcadia Droptail is the epitome of quiet irreverence,
celebrating purity of form and natural materials while serving as a bold statement of the
client's personal taste. Commissioned by an individual who possesses a distinct affinity for
architecture and design, Arcadia Droptail is a testimony to the patron's sensibilities and
personal codes of luxury, defined by purity and subtle restraint, reflecting their firm belief in
distilling complexity to reveal the inherent, fundamental essence.
This coachbuilt commission takes its name from the mythical realm of Arcadia, a place
depicted in Ancient Greek mythology as 'Heaven on Earth' – a land renowned for its
extraordinary natural beauty and perfect harmony. Like the haven that inspires its name,
Arcadia Droptail was envisioned by the client as a serene space characterised by reduction,
material depth and tactility that would serve as a refuge from the complexities of their
business life.
In capturing the theme of tranquillity, Coachbuild designers embarked on an exploration of
design, sculpture and architecture from the client's favourite regions around the world. This
included the precision and richness of modernist tropical sky gardens seen in Singapore,
Indonesia and Vietnam as well as British 'Biomimetic' architecture, where organic forms and
material honesty are celebrated.
In addition to these references, the client was also inspired by the motor car itself and the
purity of the Droptail design concept. The commissioning client insisted that their Coachbuild
motor car should be absolutely faithful to the earliest hand-drawn sketch they were first
presented with in 2019.
It was the profile of this highly contemporary projection of the roadster body type that
resonated so strongly with the commissioning client. They were particularly compelled by the
motor car's bold, low stance, ensconcing cabin design and dramatic body lines. They also
immediately recognised the nautical inspiration behind Droptail's 'sail cowls': named after
their resemblance to a yacht's jib, these sharp, angular forms rise behind the doors and curve
gently inwards, subtly directing the eye to the motor car's occupants.
The Drive, Westhampnett, Chichester, PO18 0SH, UK +44 (0)1243 384000 ...
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited. Registered in England and Wales. Company number 3522604. Registered address: Summit ONE, Summit Avenue, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 0FB.
EXTERIOR: A TRIBUTE TO DROPTAIL
In order to fulfil the client's ambition to honour Droptail's form, Rolls-Royce Coachbuild
designers developed a calm, natural duotone colourway for the motor car's coachwork. The
client's aspiration was to define a timeless white, appearing as a solid colour at first glance,
but creating a level of intrigue upon further study under natural light. To achieve this, the main
body colour is a solid white infused with aluminium and glass particles. This not only creates
an effervescent shimmer when the light strikes the coachwork but, upon close inspection,
creates the illusion of unending depth in the paint. Rolls-Royce specialists developed a more faceted, striking metallic using larger sizing of aluminium particles. The client was very particular and involved in their request for the Bespoke silver to contrast against the white, not only in colour, but also in terms of intensity.
In a key departure from the other three coachbuilt Droptails in this series, the carbon fibre
used to construct the lower sections of Droptail is painted in the solid Bespoke silver colour
rather than left fully or partially exposed, visually 'lifting' the motor car in profile to intensify its lithe, dynamic intent.
In tribute to the brilliant mirror finish of brightwork on historical Rolls-Royces, which
particularly fascinate the client, the exterior grille surround, 'kinked' vane pieces and 22-inch alloy wheels have been fully mirror-polished.
While Arcadia Droptail's exterior palette is rich in subtle detail, its primary intention is to
celebrate the form and proportions of the coachwork. The client was particularly compelled by Droptail's clean, monolithic surfacing and bold use of negative sculpture – features that are amplified by the motor car's muted paint colours, which reflect sunlight and cast dramatic shadows, highlighting Droptail's many subtle design gestures.
INTERIOR: THE CENTRALITY OF WOOD
As the exterior of Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail celebrates the motor car's form, the interior is a deeply personal reflection of the client's individual aesthetic, reflective of the style they have curated in their residences and business spaces around the world. Arcadia Droptail's colour.
The Drive, Westhampnett, Chichester, PO18 0SH, UK +44 (0)1243 384000 ...
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited. Registered in England and Wales. Company number 3522604. Registered address: Summit ONE, Summit Avenue, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 0FB.
palette and material treatment was envisioned to be a truly personal statement and instantly recognisable as a personal signature of the commissioning client.
Wood development was central to Arcadia Droptail's interior and the client's focus, whose
very specific expectations concentrated on the texture, grain, colour and richness of the
material itself. The client shared many examples of preferences and inspiration from
architecture, residences and classic cars, to guide Rolls-Royce Coachbuild designers and
material specialists.
Santos Straight Grain was eventually selected as the most modern statement, based upon its rich texture and visual intrigue, which is derived from its unique, interlocking grain pattern.
Using this high-density hardwood on Droptail's interior posed a significant challenge for the
marque's craftspeople. Santos Straight Grain has one of the finest grain types of all the wood species used within a Rolls-Royce – if not handled with the greatest care, it easily tears when machined and 'checks' (a crack that appears parallel to the grain) during the drying process.
Despite the challenges of working with this delicate material, Santos Straight Grain is used
throughout Droptail, including the aerodynamically functional rear deck section, where the
grain of the open pore veneer is laid at a perfect 55° angle. To achieve a perfect composition over complex geometry, Rolls-Royce artisans used a total of 233 wood pieces throughout Arcadia Droptail, with 76 pieces applied to the rear deck alone.
Given that Arcadia Droptail will be used internationally, including some tropical climates,
specific attention was paid to developing a protection system and testing process for the
exterior wood surfaces. Coatings used on superyachts were initially considered but rejected
given that they require regular servicing and re-application. Instead, a Bespoke lacquer was developed that requires just one application for the lifetime of the motor car.
To validate this coating, Rolls-Royce specialists conceived a unique testing protocol wherein
veneer pieces were subject to a punishing cycle inside a specialist machine simulating global weather extremes. This involved spraying sample wood pieces with water intermittently, between periods of leaving them to dry in darkness and exposing them to heat and bright
light.
The Drive, Westhampnett, Chichester, PO18 0SH, UK +44 (0)1243 384000 ...
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited. Registered in England and Wales. Company number 3522604. Registered address: Summit ONE, Summit Avenue, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 0FB.
This was repeated for 1,000 hours on 18 different samples before the marque's specialists
were satisfied with the endurance of the pieces. In total, the wood pieces and protective
coating required more than 8,000 hours of development.
INTERIOR: A STUDY IN WHITE
The leather interior is finished in two entirely Bespoke hues, named after the client and
reserved exclusively for their use. The main leather colour is a Bespoke White hue,
continuing the exterior paint theme, while the contrast leather is a Bespoke tan colour,
developed to perfectly complement the selected wood.
The interior also includes the exquisite shawl panel that unites all four Droptail motor cars and is the largest continuous wood section ever seen on a Rolls-Royce motor car. In Arcadia
Droptail, it is made in the same Santos Straight Grain open pore veneer as the rear deck,
book-matched at the same 55° angle, with individually shaped leave stripes running
seamlessly into the door linings. CAD tools were used to map the placement of each wood
piece, and although it appears to be constructed from just two mirrored sections of veneer,
this panel alone is made up of 40 sections, each digitally mapped before being fixed to the
motor car.
Applying wood to the complex curvatures of Droptail's interior required Rolls-Royce engineers to develop an entirely new substructure for several components. The dramatic geometry of the dashboard, door linings and central cantilevered 'plinth' armrest had to be incredibly rigid to ensure the stability of the wood pieces once they were laid in place. Engineers called on carbon fibre layering techniques used in Formula 1 motor racing to develop an incredibly stiff base onto which the wood could be applied, ensuring that it remained secure regardless of the dynamic extremes the motor car experienced.
BESPOKE TIMEPIECE: A PRECISION INSTRUMENT
The Santos Straight Grain veneer fascia incorporates a clock conceived and developed by
Rolls-Royce Coachbuild designers and craftspeople. This expression of haute horlogerie is
The Drive, Westhampnett, Chichester, PO18 0SH, UK +44 (0)1243 384000 ...
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited. Registered in England and Wales. Company number 3522604. Registered address: Summit ONE, Summit Avenue, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 0FB.
the most complex Rolls-Royce clock face ever created: the assembly alone was a five-month process, which was preceded by more than two years of development.
The clock incorporates an exquisite geometric guilloché pattern in raw metal with 119 facets.
This is a symbolic nod to the marque's heritage; as the client first saw a preview of the motor car in late 2023 – the year when Rolls-Royce celebrated its 119-year anniversary. The specially designed clock face also includes partly polished, partly brushed hands and 12
'chaplets' – or hour markers – each just 0.1mm thick. To ensure the readability of the
timepiece, specialists gave each chaplet an infill bridge and painted them by hand using a
camera capable of magnifying an image by up to 100x.
While many haute horlogerie methods were used to develop the timepiece, the testing and
validation standards at Rolls-Royce are higher than those of the watch world. This required
the marque's specialists to draw on an expansive palette of materials. For example, instead
of anodizing the timepiece's minute marker, which is common practice in watch
manufacturing, it is finished in a ceramic coating chosen because of its stability over time as well as its aesthetic merits. Small areas of the coating were laser-etched away to reveal the mirror finish of the aluminium material beneath it. Like every piece within the timepiece, including the Bespoke 'double R' monogram, they were individually machined from solid stainless-steel billet and polished by hand prior to assembly.
Themes from the clock are paired with the instrument dials, sharing materials, techniques and execution. They feature the same repeated guilloché pattern, as well as brushed and polished brightwork and frosted white inserts, recalling the colourway of the motor car.
STATEMENT OF A COSMOPOLITAN LIFESTYLE
Reflecting the patron's international lifestyle, the motor car is specified with left-hand drive to facilitate its use around the world. This international dimension was so important to the
commissioning client that the Coachbuild Collective wanted them to experience the motor car in multiple locations around the world before it was built. Coachbuild designers used the
marque's 'holodeck' to facilitate this – a unique virtual 3D environment in which the client
The Drive, Westhampnett, Chichester, PO18 0SH, UK +44 (0)1243 384000 ...
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited. Registered in England and Wales. Company number 3522604. Registered address: Summit ONE, Summit Avenue, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 0FB.
uses an advanced virtual reality (VR) headset to view the motor car as it would appear in
specific locations around the world.
ARCADIA DROPTAIL: AN ELEGANT SPACE IN THE DROPTAIL CANON
While every Rolls-Royce client is different, they each share a powerful strength of conviction, and this individual's requirements were clearly stated from the outset. However, translating these complex, highly personal sensibilities into a coherent, workable design was the product of a significant body of work. It was here that the Coachbuild process, with its unprecedented investment of time – over four years in total – and uniquely close relationship between the client and the marque, paid incalculable dividends.
Coachbuild designers invested many months examining and interrogating the client's tastes
in everything from clothes and furnishings to food and travel destinations. From this, they
defined and codified an aesthetic rooted in the client's truth and experience; an objective
portrait of their internal world and external surroundings, backed by the certainty and authority of the design team's own discernment, understanding and professional judgment. Other family members, notably the client's daughter, also become engaged with the process. When the final design was ready, the client's wider family were invited to review it: all agreed that it perfectly captured the client's aesthetic and character.
The client derived enormous pleasure from having their tastes and identity so clearly
rationalised and projected back to them. Indeed, the process revealed the client had a far
more modern outlook than they realised, defined by lightness, the use of natural materials
and a clear passion for precision. Arcadia Droptail has since become a reference point for the client's commissions from other luxury houses and architects.
This unique expression of Rolls-Royce Droptail reflects this remarkable client's confidence,
clarity of vision and long-term relationship with Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. Its significance lies
both in its exquisitely minimal execution and the unique skill of Rolls-Royce Coachbuild
designers in capturing the sensibilities and soul of an individual.
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