• Rolls-Royce Motor Cars presents Arcadia, the third Coachbuild Droptail commission
• Celebration of the form: uniquely pure reflection of Droptail’s principal design
• Features most complex clock face in Rolls-Royce history. Assembly alone took five months
• Wood sections took 8,000 hours to create
• Commission named after Arcadia, a place known in Ancient Greek mythology as ‘Heaven on Earth’
• Droptail is the first roadster body style in Rolls-Royce’s modern history
• Coachbuilt masterpiece presented to commissioning client at private ceremony in Singapore

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is delighted to present Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail, an exquisite coachbuilt expression of tranquillity. Arcadia Droptail is the epitome of quiet irreverence, celebrating purity of form and natural materials while serving as a bold statement of the client’s personal taste. Commissioned by an individual who possesses a distinct affinity for architecture and design, Arcadia Droptail is a testimony to the patron’s sensibilities and personal codes of luxury, defined by purity and subtle restraint, reflecting their firm belief in distilling complexity to reveal the inherent, fundamental essence.

This coachbuilt commission takes its name from the mythical realm of Arcadia, a place depicted in Ancient Greek mythology as ‘Heaven on Earth’ – a land renowned for its extraordinary natural beauty and perfect harmony. Like the haven that inspires its name, Arcadia Droptail was envisioned by the client as a serene space characterised by reduction, material depth and tactility that would serve as a refuge from the complexities of their business life.

In capturing the theme of tranquillity, Coachbuild designers embarked on an exploration of design, sculpture and architecture from the client’s favourite regions around the world. This included the precision and richness of modernist tropical sky gardens seen in Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam as well as British ‘Biomimetic’ architecture, where organic forms and material honesty are celebrated.

In addition to these references, the client was also inspired by the motor car itself and the purity of the Droptail design concept. The commissioning client insisted that their Coachbuild motor car should be absolutely faithful to the earliest hand-drawn sketch they were first presented with in 2019.

It was the profile of this highly contemporary projection of the roadster body type that resonated so strongly with the commissioning client. They were particularly compelled by the motor car’s bold, low stance, ensconcing cabin design and dramatic body lines. They also immediately recognised the nautical inspiration behind Droptail’s ‘sail cowls’: named after their resemblance to a yacht’s jib, these sharp, angular forms rise behind the doors and curve gently inwards, subtly directing the eye to the motor car’s occupants.

EXTERIOR: A TRIBUTE TO DROPTAIL

In order to fulfil the client’s ambition to honour Droptail’s form, Rolls-Royce Coachbuild designers developed a calm, natural duotone colourway for the motor car’s coachwork. The client’s aspiration was to define a timeless white, appearing as a solid colour at first glance, but creating a level of intrigue upon further study under natural light. To achieve this, the main body colour is a solid white infused with aluminium and glass particles. This not only creates an effervescent shimmer when the light strikes the coachwork but, upon close inspection, creates the illusion of unending depth in the paint. Rolls-Royce specialists developed a more faceted, striking metallic using larger sizing of aluminium particles. The client was very particular and involved in their request for the Bespoke silver to contrast against the white, not only in colour, but also in terms of intensity.

INTERIOR: THE CENTRALITY OF WOOD

As the exterior of Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail celebrates the motor car’s form, the interior is a deeply personal reflection of the client’s individual aesthetic, reflective of the style they have curated in their residences and business spaces around the world. Arcadia Droptail’s colour palette and material treatment was envisioned to be a truly personal statement and instantly recognisable as a personal signature of the commissioning client.

INTERIOR: A STUDY IN WHITE

The leather interior is finished in two entirely Bespoke hues, named after the client and reserved exclusively for their use. The main leather colour is a Bespoke White hue, continuing the exterior paint theme, while the contrast leather is a Bespoke tan colour, developed to perfectly complement the selected wood.

BESPOKE TIMEPIECE: A PRECISION INSTRUMENT

The Santos Straight Grain veneer fascia incorporates a clock conceived and developed by Rolls-Royce Coachbuild designers and craftspeople. This expression of haute horlogerie is the most complex Rolls-Royce clock face ever created: the assembly alone was a five-month process, which was preceded by more than two years of development.

STATEMENT OF A COSMOPOLITAN LIFESTYLE

Reflecting the patron’s international lifestyle, the motor car is specified with left-hand drive to facilitate its use around the world. This international dimension was so important to the commissioning client that the Coachbuild Collective wanted them to experience the motor car in multiple locations around the world before it was built. Coachbuild designers used the marque’s ‘holodeck’ to facilitate this – a unique virtual 3D environment in which the client uses an advanced virtual reality (VR) headset to view the motor car as it would appear in specific locations around the world.