These Are the Most Expensive Custom Cars in the World

Rolls-Royce Boat Tail car by Coachbuild, facing a lake at sunset — Image @rollsroycecarsapac

Does anything scream bespoke luxury louder than a Rolls-Royce?

The ultra-luxury British manufacturer has been crafting high-performance cars for over a century. And with a creative department dedicated entirely to bespoke production on commission, just about every high-end Rolls-Royce is unique.

From hand-painted silk upholstery to custom bodywork, paint and detailing, there are endless possibilities for the fabulously wealthy Rolls-Royce buyers to make their luxury cars their own.

But now, Rolls-Royce is taking bespoke luxury to new heights, by combining the pinnacle of artisanship with unparalleled creative vision. Read on for a closer look at the custom-building service that’s set to revolutionise automotive luxury.

What is Coachbuild?

Coachbuild is an ultra-exclusive custom car-building service by Rolls-Royce. It harkens back to the earliest years of the renowned manufacturer, where Rolls-Royce — among many other luxury makers in Europe — would make their bread and butter on custom-made motorcars for the elite.

Today, Coachbuild works on much the same principle, connecting ultra-wealthy clients looking to splash some serious cash with the best automotive engineers and artisans in the industry.

Unlike the Bespoke service, where clients can customise their purchase from a range of pre-built ‘templates’, Coachbuild starts with the bones of the vehicle. This way, the clients are involved in the conceptualisation and development of their purchase from the ground, up.

This begins with a completely original, hand-made shape and bodywork for each build, all the way to bespoke internal features and finishings.

The result is always a unique work of automotive art, with every inch of the vehicle an expression of the client’s creative vision. Rolls-Royce even touts this service as a chance for their remarkable clientele to stake their claim in the grand history of the company.

And this is no empty promise. Coachbuild projects seldom fail to make headlines in the luxury news world despite the carefully-guarded mystery that swirls around their anonymous buyers.

What’s more, with a highly limited number of Coachbuild projects on the table for the company, Rolls-Royce plans to keep this narrow buyer’s club all the more exclusive and tantalising.

How Expensive Are Coachbuild Cars?

Rolls-Royce has never been known for its affordability or inclination towards mass production, and just about any car with this prestigious name on it will cost a significant sum.

Coachbuild takes an already formidable cost to the next level.

While the exact cost of the Coachbuild projects isn’t public knowledge, the stunning Sweptail, produced in 2017, was rumoured to have cost its owner around $18.34 million AUD.

And if this eye-watering expense wasn’t already extravagant enough, the more recent custom masterpiece, the Boat Tail, has been estimated to have cost $34.73 million AUD — making it the most expensive custom car ever made.

While these figures might be stunning to the ordinary car enthusiast out there, it makes sense that a years-long custom build by one of the most prestigious automakers on the planet would cost a pretty penny.

How Are Coachbuild Cars Made?

According to Rolls-Royce, every Coachbuild car is made entirely by hand. This, of course, accounts for why the service is so highly exclusive and every specimen years in the making.

Ultimately, the Coachbuild process begins with sketching. Throughout this stage, the buyers work directly with the engineers and artists in the Coachbuild division to develop the basic form of the build.

From here on, the clients remain engaged in the build to determine the features, colours, detailing and interior elements that are worked into their unique, motorised work of art.

With artisanship and perfectionism at centre stage, these projects are far from hurried. The first of the three renowned Boat Tail cars was estimated by Rolls-Royce to have taken 20 years' worth of working hours, as well as 1,813 custom parts to manufacture.

Among these unique components is one single sheet for each Boat Tail’s body, hand-hammered into an elegantly tapered silhouette. With such an incredible degree of opulence built into the Coachbuild ethos, there’s no option but to take it slow.

Who Owns the Coachbuild Cars?

Similar to the final price of the Coachbuild projects, the profile of their elite purchasers is a tightly-kept secret.

What has been revealed, is that the owner of the one-of-a-kind Sweptail was already a high-profile Rolls-Royce collector and someone with a keen interest in prestige horology. Naturally, this client chose to incorporate an interior mount in the car to fit a Swiss Bovey clock, as well as a drawer to house a range of watch straps.

Rolls-Royce revealed that the more recent trio of Boat Tail builds were commissioned by a group of three couples — one of which owes their fortunes to their family business in the pearl industry.

Of course, it’s unlikely that the owners of these unique builds will remain anonymous for long. While no Rolls-Royce is built to blend in with the crowd, Coachbuild projects are destined to turn heads and capture hearts wherever they drive.

Coachbuild projects are going to roll out few and far between by design. And while this ultra-exclusive bespoke division of Rolls-Royce is by no means the company’s money-maker, it’s set to strengthen the prestige and luxury of the renowned British automaker into the 21st Century.

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