Revealed: Rolls-Royce rethinks design with £7m electric special

Coachbuild-lite

Harnett said the Coachbuild Collection was driven by customers who wanted a bespoke Rolls but “didn’t have the time” needed to become immersed in the full Coachbuild programme.

The project also gives Rolls’ designers the freedom to create experimental and “extravagant” elements and features that will later trickle down to shape the design of higher-volume models.

Crucially, it will be a significant revenue driver for the firm, which sold 5664 cars last year. The heavy personalisation means these models should offer higher margins.

“We’ve been wanting to do more,” said Harnett, “from the sales side to designers. They are always sketching something. When you go to our design offices, you’ll always see pictures of extravagant things which we want to do.

“Then, talking to our clients, some people want to do a Coachbuild but they don’t necessarily have all that time they need to invest – you’re talking to the clients all the time: come in again; come in again; come in again. They also [said] they wanted to be led by us: ‘Could you do it for me? I’m paying you. You do the work.’ They want us to deliver something.

“So it’s these discussions, and we’ve been looking to see when the time is right. And then it just organically came that we said: ‘We’re ready now to do it.’”

Harnett said the project works in a “revolutionary” fashion: instead of showing prospective owners the finished cars, Rolls brings them in at the sketch stage, so they are part of the process, but without needing the level of input required for a full ultra-exclusive Coachbuild car.

“We’re doing something a bit back to front,” he said. ”We are taking our clients on a journey with us.” They will even be invited to take part in the car’s global testing programme at certain points.

“Everything we have done with this is different and that is exciting,” said Harnett. “This is a new chapter for Rolls-Royce: we have rejuvenated coachbuilding so that it is relevant again. Now we are revolutionising it again.”

Key for the Coachbuild Collection is to create cars that won’t just sit in garages, which is why the first car is a convertible. Harnett said: “This is not a show car. This is a car to drive.”

The production version of Project Nightingale has been sold to clients in the US, Europe and Asia in both left- and right-hand-drive guises. The range of owners is “diverse”, said Harnett, who added that “they are the real, real Rolls-Royce enthusiasts”.

While 100 examples of the car will be made, Harnett said future Coachbuild Collection projects could have production runs of varying sizes, although the aim is to keep them exclusive.

Unique design

Project Nightingale’s name is derived from Le Rossignol – French for ‘the nightingale’ – which was the name of a house used by Rolls designers, situated near co-founder Henry Royce’s winter estate on the Côte d’Azur in southern France.

The project was led by Coachbuild designer Jacobo Dominguez Ojea, a BMW Group stalwart of more than two decades who has previously worked on the exteriors of cars including the current-generation BMW 3 Series and 8 Series Gran Coupé.

“We realised very early on in the project that this was a once-in-a-lifetime model for Rolls-Royce,” he said.

Talking about taking design inspiration from the 17EX Torpedo, especially its long boat tail, he said: “We found that fascinating. The proportions: it had a very small cabin and this long tail, but of course [for Project Nightingale] we wanted to do something clearly modern, very bold and pure in its shape.”

He added: “From a side view, you see the presence that it has. It’s unique. There’s nothing like it with these proportions. It’s the length of a Phantom that’s just for two people.”

Opting for a convertible also fitted the project’s aim of creating a car that is “not just to go from point A to point B, but the experience of driving this car is the destination in itself”, said Ojea. “This car is about the wind in your hair. It’s about the feeling of openness, to feel and hear what’s around you.”

The team considered offering it as a speedster without a roof but felt the addition of a cloth top makes it more usable. It also means it met the brief of being a car “that people want to drive and want to use”, according to Ojea.

He pointed to a number of new elements that are the most likely to be adopted by the firm’s future series-production cars, including its 24in alloys, a frameless ‘RR’ badge on the rear and flanks, near-metre-wide front grille and large rear transom diffuser.

Elements such as the 55mm-wide hand-built headlights integrated into the nose and the wild side-hinged bootlid are too labour-intensive to be used in a higher-volume car. But their looks could influence future designs, including the forthcoming electric SUV.

There are also new elements inside, including a centre armrest that is designed to resemble a horse saddle, and the familiar Starlight Headliner feature that, due to the car’s convertible brief, has been built into the doors and behind the seats. Ojea said it is “a bit like the stars have been blown around you”.

Technical details are not yet finalised, said Harnett, given the early stage of the development (“we’ve only briefly been in a wind tunnel”), but he confirmed it will use a bigger battery than the Spectre’s 107kWh lithium ion pack while offering “close to” the same 329-mile range.

Power details also remain undisclosed, but expect a dual-motor configuration with an output that is likely to match the Black Badge Spectre’s 650bhp.

Project Nightingale will be offered in nine exterior colours that are exclusive to the Coachbuild Collection, as well as seven different roof and 11 interior leather options.

Rolls CEO Chris Brownridge called Project Nightingale “our most ambitious work” and said it has brought “three things together that have never co-existed within our brand: the complete design freedom of coachbuilding; our powerful, near-silent all-electric powertrain; and a uniquely potent yet serene expression of open-top motoring”.