Bejewelled Amethyst Droptail is one of a kind Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce has unveiled the second of its coach-built Droptail creations. After the sumptuous La Rose Noire Droptail that made headlines at Monterey Car Week earlier this month, the Amethyst Droptail was shown in Gstaad, Switzerland, on August 24.

It was “commissioned by a patron whose family business has grown from a gemstone boutique to a multinational corporation with diversified interests”, the British luxury carmaker said.

Inspired by the birthstone of the owner’s son, the Amethyst Droptail features gemstones of the same name embedded into the base of the Spirit of Ecstasy figurine. Beneath it resides a bespoke Pantheon radiator grille sporting a brushed and polished finish; the sharpness of contrast between the two the result of more than 50 hours of craftsmanship.

Complementing this striking feature is an intricate lower front air intake digitally designed and “printed” in a lightweight composite material and incorporating 202 hand-polished stainless-steel ingots, each of which has been painted by hand in the Globe Amaranth hue.

According to Rolls-Royce, this specially blended pigment is the main colour of the vehicle’s duotone exterior paint finish and is inspired by the wild flower of the same name, which blooms in the desert near one of the client’s homes. It is contrasted by deep purple Amethyst paint on the car’s upper coachwork, which contains a blend of red, blue and violet mica flakes that together create a unique mauve colour with a subtle metallic sheen.

Elsewhere, this particular Droptail’s enormous 22-inch mirror-polished aluminium wheels feature a gentle hint of mauve paint on the inside of each rim while the chevron-patterned carbon fibre used to construct the lower sections of the car has been finished with a fine layer of lacquer tinted with Amethyst pigment, which in most lights reads as body colour.

The cabin is a celebration of bespoke wood surfacing with Calamander Light open-pore veneers adorning everything from the dashboard fascia and door cards to the shawl panel behind the seats. It also extends out over the rear deck, culminating in the single largest wooded surface Rolls-Royce has yet produced. The product of 8,000 hours of testing, the latter can apparently withstand temperatures ranging from +80°C to -30°C.

As with the Spirit of Ecstasy, the instrument dials are adorned with rare amethyst gems. 

Similar to La Rose Noire, the Amethyst Droptail comes with a custom timepiece set in the middle of its dashboard. Built to the owner’s requirements by renowned Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin, the hand-wound piece features a bi-retrograde display with instantaneous return of the hours and minutes as well as a biaxial tourbillon.

A removable hard top is included as standard and comprises electrochromic glass, allowing the surface to change colour and transparency instantly. When deactivated it is opaque and has a subtle purple tint mirroring the car’s paintwork. When activated it becomes translucent with a hue that perfectly matches the interior’s tan leather seats. 

Riding on bespoke underpinnings with air suspension, the Amethyst Droptail is, like La Rose Noire, powered by the marque’s 6.75l twin-turbocharged V12 engine making 442kW. 

Though Rolls-Royce is keeping mum about how much this one-off creation costs, punters speculate it wears an estimated price tag of about $30m (R563m).