The Rolls-Royce ‘Boat Tail’ that appeared this year has been riding a crest of general curiosity since its unveiling in the spring, so this month the tireless automotive artisans at Goodwood revealed a closer look at the picnic-ready touring car with the attractive hindquarters by giving it an official debut at the Concorso d’Eleganza at alpine jet set destination Villa d’Este.
The Boat Tail inaugurated the new Rolls Coachbuild division, which is dedicated to making the highest-dollar dreams of clients come true. The idea for the new division may have been born with the Sweptail, a one-off client commission that was announced in the spring of 2017. Like Bugatti’s La Voiture Noire, the Sweptail was a from-the-ground-up commission, and came with one whopper of a sticker price.
The Boat Tail is, then, the figurehead of the new Rolls division, and as Rolls-Royce is the prototypical aristocrat of the automotive world and fluent in the language of bespoke, it is also in some way the present figurehead of the company at large. As any Rolls model is a touring car at heart, the Boat Tail incorporates teak-covered cabinets in the rear that hold a bevy of picnicking essentials, parasol included—as it’s an English car, said essentials include the standard Rolls bumbershoots.
The debut at Villa d’Este is ideal for car that so aptly represents the leisurely trappings of wealth. Only three will be built, at a rumored $28 million a whack.