Say hello to the new Rolls-Royce Amethyst Droptail, the second version of the Droptail. A few days ago, Rolls-Royce revealed the first version of the Droptail, the La Rose Noire.
The amethyst gem inspires the Amethyst Droptail – the birthstone of the patron’s son. The patron who commissioned this Droptail has a family business that has grown from a gemstone boutique to a multinational corporation with diversified interests. The client is keenly interested and passionate about quiet artistry and subtle flourishes.
The patron who codesigned this car lives near a desert, and in that desert blooms the Globe Amaranth wildflower, the inspiration behind the colour of this car.
The colour is a dual tone in nature, capturing multiple stages of the flower’s bloom. The primary body colour, Globe Amaranth, is a soft purple hue with a silver undertone and an iridescent finish. This is contrasted by a deep purple Amethyst paint used on the motor car’s upper coachwork.
In sunlight, there is a hint of mauve paint on the inside of the 22-inch wheels, contrasting the mirror-polished aluminium surface. The client compared this colour to the inner lining of their favourite jacket.
The exterior is finished with a highly complex treatment of the carbon fibre used to construct the lower sections of the motor car. After two years of development, the marque’s craftspeople created a chevron pattern book matched along two axes, adding geometric decoration to Rolls-Royce Amethyst Droptail’s technical exterior surfaces. The carbon fibre is finished with a layer of lacquer tinted with Amethyst pigment, which reads as body colour in most lights. This detail is hidden until the motor car is closely scrutinised.
For the client to enjoy the car in various weather conditions, Rolls-Royce has tested the interior wooden panels to meet the same standards as the exterior parts. Before its final construction, more than 150 samples underwent over 8,000 hours of testing. This included a full sunlight exposure simulation and lightfastness assessment and testing for durability in temperatures ranging from +80°C to -30°C. The deck’s protective coatings, explicitly developed for Amethyst Droptail, have been granted their individual patent.
Following its name, the car has been adorned with rare amethyst gems. These have been placed on the rotary dials and at the base of the Spirit of Ecstasy and designed using the cabochon style over the faceted style.
Rolls-Royce has adorned the interior with a unique timepiece from Vacheron Constantin, adding more charm to the interior. Handmade in
Geneva, the piece, named ‘Les Cabinotiers Armillary Tourbillon,’ has an intricate hand-wound movement and is securely housed in a specially designed holder, enabling it to be removed and stored separately from the motor car if desired. The timepiece features a bi-retrograde display with an instantaneous return of the hours and minutes and a bi-axial tourbillon. The instrument dials combine amethyst-coloured inserts with the partially brushed and polished finish of the timepiece’s hands. The clock is affixed to a white-gold baseplate with a hand-crafted sunburst guilloché pattern.
A removable hard top has been designed to give the Rolls-Royce Droptail two distinct characteristics: without its roof, the Droptail is an open-top roadster, with the roof installed a coupé.
The roof incorporates electrochromic glass, allowing the surface to change colour and transparency instantly. The client requested the Coachbuild designers to develop a glass that would alter its hue to correspond with the colourway of Amethyst Droptail.
In response, the Rolls-Royce Coachbuild Collective developed a unique chameleon effect for its electrochromic glass: when deactivated, it is completely opaque and has a subtle purple tint, mirroring the motor car’s Amethyst exterior finish. Once the glass is activated at the touch of a button, it becomes translucent with a hue that matches the Sand Dunes leather colour used on the interiors.
Powering this behemoth and eye-catching beauty of a vehicle is Rolls-Royce’s twin-turbo V12 engine, producing slightly over 600 hp. The attention to detail on this vehicle is truly astounding and incomparable. Rolls-Royce Coachbuild Collective has set a benchmark no manufacturer or artist can match. All of this comes at a cost, and there are no official figures available, but the educated guess is around $25 million+, making this the most expensive modern car currently with its other Droptail brethren.
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