Project Nightingale is Rolls' first drop-top EV
First Coachbuild Collection concept will spawn a 100-unit production run, coming 2028
So here we have it: the first car from Rolls-Royce’s new Coachbuild Collection, the model that picks up where cars like the Boat Tail left off - i.e. the ultimate in Rolls-Royce design, luxury, and attention to detail. As confirmed back in March, there will be 100 cars very closely inspired by this Project Nightingale ‘production concept’, all to be sold on an invite-only basis. Nothing like creating EV demand by making it super exclusive…
And, being a tad less cynical for a sec, making it truly spectacular to look at as well. There’s certainly no danger of it being framed as a mere Spectre speedster, with the dramatic rear deck treatment reminiscent of the three Boat Tail commissions. You know, the £20m one-off commissions. The 24-inch wheels, the largest ever fitted to a Rolls-Royce, ensure additional presence. There’s certainly something of the 103EX concept about Project Nightingale, too, with Rolls also keen to point to how the new car ‘draws on the glamour and confidence of the 1920s and 1930s while remaining entirely ahead of its time.’ The 16EX and 17EX of the period have also been an influence.
All of which means there are three design principles underpinning the Nightingale. So there’s the Pantheon Grille, as prominent as ever without combustion cooling requirements, which represents the ‘Upright to flowing’ principle along with the long rear deck. ‘Central fuselage’ can be seen in the unbroken hull line from front to rear. And ‘Flying wings’ are the surface treatments drawing attention to that incredible rump.
If the sheer size - 5.76m from top to tail - of Rolls-Royce wasn’t going to be attention-grabbing enough, the design of Project Nightingale ensures it. From a visage recalling Art Deco skyscrapers to rear stainless steel band evoking ‘the gentle white water of a sailing yacht’s wake’, it’s a staggering Rolls-Royce. The aesthetes the Nightingale is being created for - ‘individuals for whom beauty is both observed and lived’ - are surely going to be bowled over by this. Might make Spectre depreciation seem worthwhile as well.
The interior is just as lavish as the outside; even the roof features cashmere in its construction. Rolls believes that Nightingale is ‘an exercise in serene, open-air travel with the roof lowered’, while making ‘a commanding, coupe-like presence’ with it raised. Most images, understandably enough, are in roadster spec, and surely how the finished Nightingales will be used. And when it’s said to be like travelling by sailing yacht so configured, why wouldn’t you?
The leather, stainless steel and billet aluminium cupholders are also put in the shade somewhat by what’s being called the Starlight Breeze suite. Story goes that birdsong was especially easy to hear when driving a silent prototype, so the nightingales (what else?) were recorded; from there, it was made into a visual form, 10,500 individual lights in three sizes to create a ‘flowing constellation of ambient illumination’ around the two occupants. If some of the interior seems recognisably Rolls, the Starlight Breeze ensures a Nightingale USP.
Further exclusivity is guaranteed by an entirely new colour and material palette, as well as additional Bespoke touches, for whatever the production version of this concept is. Yes, somehow, there are still new paints and leathers to offer. All will be exclusive to this Coachbuild Collection car, unavailable on any other Rolls-Royce, to ensure top-tier treatment for the lucky few. The preview seen here is Côte d’Azur Blue - a solid colour with some red flakes - which pays homage to the paint of the 17EX of 1928.
While it’ll probably be of less concern to Nightingale buyers, the new Rolls-Royce is going to be built on the Architecture of Luxury platform, the same as has underpinned all Goodwood creations since the Phantom VII was launched. As were the Boat Tail cars, in fact. So expect plenty of this experience to feel like a Spectre (whether Black Badge spec or not isn’t clear for the moment), which you’d imagine a good few Nightingale customers will already be familiar with.
Rolls-Royce Design Director Domagoj Dukec commented: “Project Nightingale is built on the design principles that define this marque at its most compelling – grand proportions, absolute surface discipline, and a clarity of line that rewards the closest attention. And yet, it takes them somewhere entirely new. For me, this landmark motor car feels both inevitable and completely unexpected, and it will shape everything that follows.” Couldn’t be anything but a Rolls-Royce, could it? And it’s easy to see how a Spectre facelift could borrow just a little from it. Deliveries of the Nightingale will begin the year after next.
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