Higher Rollers

So you’ve been holding off purchase of a new Rolls-Royce because of a lack of exclusivity.

Well, the BMW-owned luxury marque not only understands your dilemma, it also has an answer: The Rolls-Royce Bespoke Collection.

If merely buying an off-the-rack Roller is not enough, this special division within the Goodwood, UK-based company can cater for you.

Through the design and creation of special short-run versions of regular Rolls-Royce models, it addresses the special requirements of out-of-the-ordinary buyers.

The division, which comprises a lineup of talent covering design, engineering and craftsmanship, is tasked with creating “unique” Rolls-Royce models. In the last year has come up with a collection of specials including 'Year of the Horse', 'Pinnacle Travel', 'Waterspeed', 'Metropolitan' and 'Maharajah' versions.

To wind up the year, the Bespoke Division has excelled itself. The new 'Suhail' collection covers not just one or two Rolls-Royce models, but encompasses, for the first time, the entire range from Phantom, Phantom Coupé, Ghost and Wraith.

The Suhail collection is named after one of the brightest constellations in the sky and celebrates the Arabic 10th century mathematician, astronomer and physicist Ibn al-Hotham, who is credited by many as being the first true scientist.

He wrote the “Book of Optics” and influenced later scientific thinkers such as Roger Bacon, Leonardo Da Vinci, Galileo Galilei and René Descartes – with, among other things, his ground-breaking realisation that light enters the eye, rather than leaving it.

How does a mere motorcar reflect the thoughts of a scientific thinker?
Well, the Rolls-Royce Bespoke Division went for a thematic approach, addressing the exterior through the use of “unique” moonstone pearl paintwork along with a special Suhail emblem and a 'Turchese Blue' coachline, plus an interior replete with special heavenly features including 'Creme Light Leather' with Turchese accents, Navy Blue instrument panel and carpets, Suhail star emblems in the Ash Burr Walnut fascia and, in Phantom and Wraith models, a Starlight Headliner that allows the owner a “personal moment of star-gazing.”

There’s also a special colour-matched clock that depicts the Suhail Ursa Minor and Major constellation on its face.

Understandably, the company doesn’t mention anything as base as pricing for the Suhail Bespoke collection, invoking by inference Rolls-Royce’s traditional “if you need to ask, you can’t afford it” policy.