Rolls-Royce has unveiled the second of its Droptail range, prompting much speculation about which of the pair can hang on to the title of the most expensive street-legal car ever made.
Informed insiders in the motor trade said the La Rose Noire – unveiled last week – probably took that crown with an estimated cost of more than $30 million, but now comes the Amethyst.
Both vehicles are bespoke creations and each is apparently pricier than the three vehicles that made up Rolls-Royce’s Boat Tail trio, manufactured in 2021 and 2022.
At the time of their release, the aquatically named trio were at one point said to be among the most costly cars ever. Let’s talk about those figures, then.
The numbers here are nothing short of astonishing – each Boat Tail was estimated to have been sold for between $25 million and $30 million.
Reports suggest the Droptail quartet will exceed that.
It’s difficult to be precise, though, as these are cars handmade for individual clients, and Rolls-Royce, ever the refined and dignified marque, would never reveal what any of them cost.
What of the newest Droptail, then?
Well, Rolls-Royce describes the Amethyst as an “expression of purity, clarity and resilience”.
You’d expect at least that for the price, but Rolls-Royce chief executive Torsten Muller-Otvos says the vehicle “truly captures the soul of its commissioning client”, revealing a glimpse of the patron’s identity by calling them a “distinguished international individual”.
The Amethyst name comes from it being the customer’s son’s birthstone.
The paintwork apparently mirrors numerous stages in the life of the globe amaranth flower, a bloom that is a feature of the desert near one of the client’s homes.
The inside is decked out in what Rolls-Royce aptly calls Sand Dunes leather, with calamander hardwood making the already fancy stylings extra special.
The car has a removable hard top, allowing it double up as both a coupe and roof-down roadster.
Don’t like the window colour? Well, the ceiling comes complete with electromagnetic glass that allows hue and transparency changes at the touch of a button.
The fascia has a unique timepiece created by Swiss manufacturer Vacheron Constantin, which has been given the name Les Cabinotiers Armillary Tourbillon.
You know you’re in something out of the ordinary when the clock on the dashboard gets a name fancier than most members of the world’s royal families.
All very impressive, of course, but the Droptail story doesn’t end here – Rolls-Royce still has two more in the pipeline.
One can only guess, but it wouldn’t take Nostradamus to work out neither of those are likely to be budget options either.
