Rolls-Royce unveils Project Nightingale
Named after Le Rossignol, the French for ‘the nightingale’, and the house where Henry Royce’s designers and engineers worked near his winter home on the Côte d’Azur, Project Nightingale is Rolls-Royce’s most ambitious coachbuilt creation yet.
Stunning as it looks, especially when wearing the bespoke Côte d’Azur Blue exterior shade, it is an open, fully electric 2-seater unlike anything the British marque has produced to date.
Before getting into specifics, it’s worth understanding that its inspiration comes from the 16EX and 17EX models of the 1920s. These were Phantom-based speed cars manufactured in 1928 with lightweight aluminium bodies and torpedo-shaped forms. They were built to exceed 144km/h and carry red badges to mark their prototype status, the same red insignias now worn by the Project Nightingale. Besides that, the new creation draws directly from their design DNA, which includes a long bonnet, a shallow windscreen, a snug cabin set deep within the body, and a rear that tapers dramatically low.
At 5.76m in length, it’s the same length as the Phantom but devotes every millimetre to a 2-seat convertible form. The fully electric drivetrain eliminates the need for large cooling intakes, allowing designers to achieve stretches of surfacing between the wings and the Pantheon Grille. As for the grille, it’s nearly a metre wide and appears carved from a single block of stainless steel. The Spirit of Ecstasy dissolves into the bonnet, while it rides on 24-inch wheels, the largest ever fitted to a Rolls-Royce.
Inside, the Starlight Breeze suite, which consists of 10,500 individual ambient light points, is arranged in patterns drawn directly from the sound waves of a nightingale’s song, and ensconces driver and passenger in what Rolls-Royce regards as a celestial field. There are five jewel-finished stainless-steel rotary controls that handle the essentials. Everything else is leather and open-pore wood.
With the roof down and the electric drivetrain generating no mechanical noise, Rolls-Royce wanted the travel experience to be akin to that of a sailing yacht. Only 100 examples will be built, by hand at Goodwood, available by invitation only, with deliveries commencing from 2028.
If Boat Tail and La Rose Noire Droptail are anything to go by, the 100 clients who receive an invitation already know what they’re getting into. The rest of us will watch from the sidelines.
