First real-world sighting of Rolls' EV drop-top
Project Nightingale is the first step in a new direction for Rolls-Royce - here's what you're missing
You’ll likely recall that Rolls-Royce announced Project Nightingale back in the spring, the first constituent of its new Coachbuilt Collection - an audacious (though understandable) attempt to move the brand from the crazy-money stratosphere to the very edge of automotive space. It turned out to be neither bird nor plane, but rather Rolls’ first drop-top EV. Although arguably the precise nature of its configuration is ultimately less important than the fact that there will be only 100 examples ever made, and you’ll need an invite to buy one.
If you’re only partial to convertibles if they come with the invigorating snarl of a V8, this might seem like a trifling detail - and is unlikely to make you feel like you’re missing out - but, of course, among high-level car collectors, it is precisely the FOMO aspect of Project Nightingale which is meant to keep them awake at night. After all, Rolls says this is the ‘most extravagant expression of what Rolls-Royce is capable of today.’ God forbid said invite has not landed on the welcome mat (of your gatehouse).
At any rate, this is our first sighting of said car out in the wild, and it’s safe to say that necks will be craned toward throughout 350 weeks of collective testing. In fact, its maker suggests that the new car has already completed 1,430 hours of aerodynamic modelling, which ought to stand it in good stead when the 155mph testing starts. That portion of the ongoing exercise will happen somewhere nice and private - but much else will occur on the road: ‘from Mediterranean corniches and the Arctic Circle to the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula’, as Rolls-Royce breathlessly puts it.
Such is the plight of most test mules during development, though naturally the manufacturer points to various examples of its obsessiveness: the fully electric wind deflector is apparently bespoke to Project Nightingale, while the new roof lining is said to be a unique combination of ‘cashmere, fabric and high-performance composites’. As you might expect from a battery-powered convertible, ‘exceptional refinement’ is promised.
But the car’s real claim to fame is the ‘Piano Boot’, a feature never before seen on any Rolls-Royce. Though we haven’t seen this operating yet, it apparently opens sideways on a cantilever, which ought to supply the kind of theatre that Project Nightingale is all about. And to make sure that repeated use doesn’t unduly tax the ‘hallmark gesture’, the engineering team has been instructed to put it through 15,000 opening and closing cycles. Though presumably not in a lay-by between the Arctic Circle and the Arabian Peninsula.
You might persuasively argue that by dint of its rarity and (we're guessing) seven-figure asking price, the car has no great need for such exhaustive testing, given the likelihood that many if not most examples will sit unused in vast private collections. But such quibbling is very much beside the point. Project Nightingale is about taking things to extremes: “Nothing less would be worthy of the brand, or this truly exceptional motor car,” said Rolls CEO, Chris Brownridge. And if nothing else, the FOMO dimension depends on it.
RR could learn a thing or two from them. RR should be a supermega cargo ship[ in design terms.... taking an age to change direction.
This looks like the Chinese car industry has taken a(nother) swing at them and come up close.
From most angles it looks ugly, except for the one where it manages to just look like a brick.
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