After the one-off Sweptail and the Boat Tail of which just three will ever be made, a new trademark filing suggests Rolls-Royce has decided on a name for its next coachbuilding project. Carbuzz spotted that both the Goodwood-based brand and parent company BMW have taken legal measures to register the “Droptail” moniker with the European Union Intellectual Property Office. Trademark filings were made on July 20.
Even if Droptail will indeed be used on an ultra-exclusive Rolls-Royce, it’s highly unlikely we’ll see it anytime soon. The British brand still has to show the third and final Boat Tail, which probably won’t happen until later in 2023. The first two were shown publicly for the first time in May 2021 and a year later at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este.
Details about the car are not available for the time being, but if it’s anything like the Sweptail and Boat Tail, it’s going to be based on the Phantom. While Rolls-Royce’s flagship is already one of the most expensive cars money can buy, these coachbuilding projects are out of reach even among many of the proverbial one-percenters.
Pricing information was never released for the previous cars, but the Sweptail was rumored to have cost a steep $12.8 million to unofficially become the most expensive new car ever before the Bugatti La Voiture Noire dethroned it. RR took the title back with the Boat Tail, with an unconfirmed asking price of $28 million.
As to which shape it will take given the Droptail nameplate, we’ll remind you that the discontinued the Phantom Drophead Coupe in 2016 was replaced by the now-defunct Dawn. In the past, Drophead coupe models came with a folding roof. It could be a new convertible, but massively different than the soft-top Boat Tail.
Of course, “Droptail” is not the same as “Drophead” and could imply a folding rear section. If it’ll have a fixed metal roof, we’re fairly certain Rolls-Royce will make it stand out compared to the Sweptail.
[Source: Carbuzz | European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO)]
