At approximately $3 million, the Bugatti Chiron is one of the most costly production automobiles to ever reach showrooms. So, the words “budget friendly” and “Bugatti” hardly ever, if ever, occupy real estate in the same sentence. Nevertheless, that’s precisely what occurred over the weekend.
Last week, Rolls-Royce revealed a one-off custom build called the Sweptail. At a reported cost of almost $13 million, it is believed to be the most expensive new automobile ever commissioned.
While it may not be quite as expensive as the most costly car of all-time – a $38 million Ferrari 250 GTO – the Rolls-Royce is still the price of 4 new Bugatti Chirons.
For Rolls-Royce, the Sweptail represents prominence of the brand’s time-honored coach-building business.
“Sweptail is the automotive equivalent of Haute Couture,” Rolls-Royce Motor Cars director of design, Giles Taylor stated. “It is a Rolls-Royce developed and hand-tailored to fit a particular customer.”
And it’s the outcome of four years of work.
As per the automaker, a specific consumer approached the company in 2013 and ask to develop an unique motor car motivated by the high-end yachts of the 1920s and 30s.
The Sweptail’s signature function is a single-piece glass roof that tapers into the vehicle’s fastback rear end. It’s a design function that controls the vehicle’s silhouette.
Rolls-Royce has not provided technical specifications of the vehicle. However, the Sweptail is thought to be based on the current generation Phantom platform, which indicates some variation of the company’s 6.75 liter, V12 is hiding under the vehicle’s long bonnet.
