London’s car scene has been on absolute fire recently, it’s like watching a supercar showdown unfold live. Koenigseggs have flooded the streets, one after another, from two Jeskos to an Agera N and even a One:1, each more bonkers than the last. Throw in an Aston Martin Valkyrie, a LaFerrari, and a fleet of Bugattis, and you’d think the ceiling was already maxed out. But no, then came the Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail, and just like that, it was game over.
This isn’t just any Rolls-Royce, this is the most expensive new car ever built. While Rolls hasn’t confirmed an exact figure, insiders put the price around €30 million. That’s right, thirty. You could have a McLaren F1 LM and a Ferrari F50 and still not spend that much. Or grab 15 Bugatti Veyron 16.4s. But then again, when you've already got everything, what’s another €30M for a car no one else will ever own?
Coachbuild redefined: Only four Droptails, ever
The La Rose Noire Droptail is the first of just four bespoke Droptails that Rolls-Royce will ever build under its Coachbuild division. Each one is completely unique, built through years-long collaborations with visionary clients. This isn’t personalization, it’s pure, unfiltered co-creation.
The inspiration behind La Rose Noire? The Black Baccara rose, a dark, velvet-like French flower cherished by the commissioning family’s matriarch. Every element of this car pays tribute to it, from color to texture to even the interior patterns.
Roadster revival, Rolls-Royce style
Marking a bold departure from Rolls-Royce tradition, the Droptail is their first two-seater in modern history, ditching the usual four-seat layout. It’s a contemporary take on the classic roadster, long, low and impossibly elegant. With its removable hardtop, it transforms from a wind-in-your-hair roadster into a sleek coupé, offering two distinct driving experiences.
The rear design is where things get controversial. It’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen from Rolls-Royce. Some will love it, some won’t, but everyone will stop and stare.
A rolling masterpiece: Interior artistry
The interior is arguably the star of the show. The car features the most complex parquetry ever created by Rolls-Royce, using 1,603 individual pieces of Black Sycamore veneer to form a dynamic, abstract rose petal motif. It’s a tribute to time, patience, and obsessive craftsmanship.
Only one person was trusted to assemble it, working in complete silence for no more than five hours a day, in one-hour sessions, over nine months of meticulous work, after two years of development. The result? A sculptural, flowing piece of art surrounding the driver and passenger.
The petal motif continues outside
The rear deck mirrors the petal motif in a stunning geometric artwork framed by sharp, yacht-inspired sail cowls. It’s elegant, nautical, and architectural all at once, another nod to the ultra-bespoke vision behind the Droptail.
A paintjob like no other
The body is finished in a complex deep red shade called True Love, developed specifically for this car. It took 150 paint iterations and a process involving a base layer plus five layers of tinted lacquer, each slightly different in hue, to mimic the ever-changing tones of the Black Baccara rose.
All the chrome trim? That’s gone too. In its place is Hydroshade, a specially developed dark reflective finish. It covers the grille, whose reverse vanes are subtly painted in True Love red, only visible in reflections — and every exterior accent.
Romantic minimalism, inside
Inside, the two-tone leather upholstery, Mystery (dark red) and True Love (light red), features a light copper shimmer, echoing the texture of rose petals. The beige seating position is low and cocooning, designed to be intimate and personal, in keeping with the car’s romantic spirit.
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A nod to the king: Bugatti Veyron still shines
Back in the day, if you showed up in a Bugatti Veyron 16.4, you were the king of the block, and honestly, to this day, that still holds true. It’s a true timepiece, a symbol of early-2000s hyper-engineering that still stuns today. The level of craftsmanship, the powertrain, the presence, nothing else like it.
And while the La Rose Noire Droptail might have pulled the spotlight this time, the Veyron that appeared next to it in London deserves its flowers too. This particular car was finished in a classy dark brown through the middle and around the rear, with light bronze on the sides, a combination that hit just right. Inside, a beige leather interior tied everything together perfectly, offering a warm, classic contrast to the dramatic exterior tones.
It might not be one-of-one, but it’s still one-of-a-kind in its presence.
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One plate, two Rolls-Royces
Car spotters with sharp memories may have recognized the “888 HN” license plate on the La Rose Noire Droptail. This isn’t its first high-profile Rolls. Previously, it adorned a dark purple and black Rolls-Royce Dawn Black Badge. Clearly, whoever owns it knows how to make a statement, and keeps picking absolute heavy hitters to wear the plate.
The La Rose Noire Droptail may be the ultimate expression of money-meets-art-meets-mechanical obsession. Is it "worth" €30 million? Materials-wise, of course not. But Coachbuild isn’t about value in the conventional sense. It’s about creating rolling art, a legacy piece that will never be replicated, for people who already have it all.
And in a city filled with million-euro exotics and seven-figure hypercars, this one still managed to shut it all down.
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