It’s not unusual for luxury brands to stretch the imagination when it comes to price tags, whether it’s a flashy new watch, a designer handbag or even a stay in that five-star hotel. But one car brand has taken this to an entirely new level, creating a car that’s worth more than many country estates and more than double the cost of some private jets. It has become the new benchmark for extravagance and a status symbol for the ultra-wealthy.
At first glance, it does look spectacular but perhaps not worth its eye-watering £23million price tag. But once you take a look at the inside, the craftsmanship and effort that has gone into creating the motor starts to make slightly more sense – but only slightly. Using some of the finest furniture, rare jewels, and the best British engineering has to offer, it is perhaps unsurprising that the world’s most expensive car came from Rolls-Royce’s Goodwood factory.
Only four Rolls-Royce Droptails have been, and will ever be, made, with each vehicle unique and made exactly to each client’s wants and dreams, bumping up a few more million pounds in the process.
The Droptail is made by Rolls-Royce’s ultra luxury coachbuilding team, and we’re told it has been fashioned on the American coachbuilders of 100 hundred years ago. The designers have said they took inspiration from classic Rolls-Royces, too, like the 1912 Silver Ghost and the 1930 Phantom Brewster New York Roaster, to make something much more sporty than many of their regular models.
Although unlike those cars from the past, the Droptail is full of much more modern materials. Carbon fibre is everywhere, and it’s not all visible, to create a stronger and lighter car than ever before.
The car was first unveiled in August 2023 at Pebble Beach in California. The first model, the La Rose Noire Droptail, is styled on the Black Baccara rose, a flower prized for its dark crimson petals.
Painted with a shimmering paintwork with the colour called “True Love”, it took more than 150 trials to perfect, giving the car a unique pomegranate-black sheen.
Under the bonnet, the car doesn’t mess around either. Rolls-Royce famously builds the engines for planes, and the motor underneath the Droptail feels like it could put you in the air.
For petrol heads, the droptail is kitted out with a huge 6.75 litre twin-turbo V12 pumping out just shy of 600bhp.
But for £23million, the people at Rolls-Royce send you away with another treat, the luxury watch brand Audemars Piguet (AP) includes a bespoke watch that doubles up as the car’s clock.
To give you an idea of the Droptails clientele, the car even has a custom-made champagne chest, designed to hold bottles at the perfect temperature for spontaneous celebrations or just for the fun of it.
Rolls-Royce dominates the list of the most expensive cars, with three of the top 10 coming from the Sussex factory, according to the RAC.
Another luxury car brand hot on their tail is French manufacturer Bugatti, with their tribute Bugatti La Voiture Noire to a lost car from WW2, setting customers back a whopping £10.4 million.
But while the prices of these new cars may seem extraordinary, the prices of some classic cars are even more mind-boggling, with one 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe fetching more than £104 million at an auction in 2022.
The top 10 most expensive cars in the world:
- Bugatti Divo – £4.4 million
- Pagani Huayra Imola Roadster – £4.7 million
- Pagani Huayra Codalunga £5.9 million
- Mercedes-Maybach Exelero – £6.2 million
- Bugatti Centodieci – £7 million
- Bugatti Chiron Profilée £8.4 million
- Rolls-Royce Sweptail £10 million
- Bugatti La Voiture Noire – £10.4 million
- Rolls-Royce Boat Tail – £22 million
- Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail – £23 million