Forgive me for starting with a terrible cliché, but… you know that whole thing about ‘if you have to ask how much it costs, you can’t afford it’?
Well, when I first set eyes on Rolls-Royce Sweptail, a bespoke one-off motor created by the firm on commission, my first thought was ‘how much?’ And I’m a journalist, so… I really had to ask.
The launch of the @rollsroycecars Sweptail at Lake Como in Italy pic.twitter.com/TBKHtBi3QM
— Autocar (@autocar) May 27, 2017
Predictably, Rolls-Royce weren’t saying. A figure of £10million has been bandied around which is… kind of ridiculous. £10m would just about buy you five Bugatti Chirons. Or, if you prefer, 1430 Dacia Sanderos.
And yet, once you wrap your head around what Sweptail is, £10m doesn’t seem quite so wildly outlandish. Actually, outlandish is a fitting word to describe Sweptail. You could also use extravagant. Ostentatious. Magnificent. Grand. Majestic. And, yes, excessive.
Rolls-Royce reveals bespoke one-off 'Sweptail' concept
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Giles Taylor, Rolls-Royce’s director of design, described Sweptail as “the automotive equivalent of Haute Couture.” For the ‘connoisseur and valued Rolls-Royce customer’ who commissioned it, Sweptail is as much about making a statement as making a car.
I’ll be honest: it’s not really my thing. Sure, it’s beautiful, and sure, it’s exquisitely crafted. And sure, there’s incredible attention to detail and some head-shaking, jaw-dropping features (such as the system to deploy a bottle of 1970 Dom Perignon). But, frankly, it’s several steps beyond anything I can relate to. It’s not really a car, to be honest. It’s a peek into the ultra-luxury lifestyle of the ultra-rich, a money-no-object world of luxury yachts, private jets and fine dining.
And that is exactly why Sweptail has significance beyond being a one-off combination of car, engineering, design, fashion, art and theatre: it hints at a future direction for Rolls-Royce.
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Not sure on the spelling...
BLEURGHHH
But then again if it's what the customer wants it's what the customer gets. I really haven't rated RR & Bentley as attractive motors since the original Corniche went out of production. The BMW era Phantom is undeniably "Imposing" but beautiful it aint! The Bentleys have too much VW/Audi about them for my liking.. the latest Continental rear-end is a direct link to the old 100 coupe/current A7 with a hint of AM DBS about it. (For the better BTW).
If I had the financial where-withall I would commission something along the lines of the old Silver Wraith/S2 Continental, I read somwhere that the curvature of the wings echoed the waves created by a cruiseship making progress, elsewhere I read that many of Pininfarinara's designed reflected on a curvaceous female lying on her side, the hips representing the rear wheel arches..... obviously an incorrect way to form the basis of modern car design in these politically correct times!
Not my cuppa, but good to see
No sign of Lady Penelope or