Paris show: Rolls-Royce unveils its city slicker
BY RICHARD BERRY | 3rd Oct 2014
Unveiled at this week’s Paris motor show, the Rolls-Royce Phantom Metropolitan carries the city theme through the cabin with hand-crafted wood-inlay marquetry decorating items such as a fold-out table.
Bespoke craftsmen took several days to hand-cut 500 wood veneer pieces for the table. A similar scene is etched into the wood panel dash.
Just 20 of the collectible cars will be built, but do not rush to your Rolls-Royce dealer – which have all been sold.
Externally, the Paris show car is painted in Darkest Tungsten which Rolls-Royce said is inspired by city skylines. A hand-applied coachline traces the silhouettes of skyscrapers.
Rolls-Royce developed a new hue for the seat leather – Aetherius Grey – to “echo the colour palette of the modern city”, while 6800 two-tone stitches to the central rear seat flutes depict a towering building.
In the centre of the dashboard, a clock with a rotating bezel gives the time of 24 of cities, including Sydney.
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars chief executive officer Torsten Müller-Ötvös said Paris was a fitting location to debut the Phantom Metropolitan Collection.
“This is a city that echoes Rolls-Royce’s very special brand promise in perfectly combining the timeless and modern in a manner that celebrates the art of the master craftsperson,” he said.
“Our customers across the globe delight in challenging our designers and craftspeople to create true, one-of-a-kind pieces of automotive art. This latest collection serves to showcase the extraordinary scope for Bespoke personalisation afforded to every patron of the marque.” The debut follows this year’s release of the Phantom Drophead Coupe Waterspeed collection and Pinnacle Travel Phantom.
The special collections serve to promote the company’s in-house Bespoke personalisation team that not only creates paint colours to match personal possessions, but also offers extensive customisations from headlining glowing with ‘stars’ to teak decking.
According to the British luxury car-maker, nearly every Phantom sold word-wide is personalised by Bespoke.
Just last month, Rolls-Royce recorded its largest sale of Phantoms with 30 extended wheelbase cars sold to a Macau hotel-casino boss.
Sitting at the top of Rolls-Royce’s range, the Phantom is priced at $855,000 plus on-road costs, while $990,000 buys the extended wheelbase.
