Rolls-Royce shows bespoke Pinnacle Travel Phantom in Beijing

Fri, 18 Apr 2014

Rolls-Royce is exclusive. Rolls-Royce's Bespoke Collection, though, takes that exclusivity to the highest levels, representing the very finest work that the craftsmen at the company's Goodwood factory are capable of producing. With the Pinnacle Travel Phantom, set to be shown at the 2014 Beijing Motor Show, Rolls-Royce may have finally outdone itself. Apparently, the puzzling name (as well as the reason it's being shown in Beijing) comes from China's second consecutive year as the largest outbound travel market in the world.

The one-off custom job wears a gorgeous two-tone paint scheme, with a section of Silver Sand and a lot of Madeira Red paint. The intricate coachline includes a few small details that just add to the exterior's specialness.

The cabin, though, is where the work has really been done. It has throw pillows, for crying out loud. Ignoring the silvery poofs on the back seats, the cabin is dominated by Morello Red and Seashell leather, the former of which is on the seats, doors and interior partition. The woodwork, is some of the most beautiful we've seen from Rolls-Royce, which is saying something.

According to Rolls-Royce, each piece of wood veneer is laser cut and then hand-assembled by a Rolls-Royce woodworker into the designs seen on this car. There are 230 pieces used throughout the car's cabin.

Take a look up top for the official gallery from Rolls-Royce, and then scroll below for a short press release.

ROLLS-ROYCE MOTOR CARS SHOWCASES BESPOKE EXPERTISE AT BEIJING MOTOR SHOW WITH PINNACLE TRAVEL PHANTOM DEBUT

"Bespoke is Rolls-Royce and our Chinese customers know it. To celebrate China's love of travel and the success of Bespoke in China, I am proud to unveil Pinnacle Travel Phantom. This car is a showcase of Rolls-Royce's pre-eminence in Bespoke design seen through the prism of luxury travel."

Torsten Müller-Ötvös, CEO, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has unveiled the Pinnacle Travel Phantom, a new Bespoke Collection motor car, at the Beijing Motor Show. The car has been conceived both to celebrate the Chinese love of travel and the success of the Bespoke programme in China. Pinnacle Travel Phantom serves as a showcase for the imaginative heights of craftsmanship, design and excellence that emanate from the Bespoke design studios at the Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood, England, seen through the prism of modern luxury travel.

According to the World Tourism Barometer published by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, China continues to be the largest outbound travel market for the second year in a row, spending an estimated $125 billion on travel in 2013.

Answering this growing interest in luxury travel, the Rolls-Royce Pinnacle Travel Phantom offers a luxuriant colour palette, opulent, sumptuous materials and the most complex, beautifully hand-crafted marquetry ever seen in a Rolls-Royce, evoking the experience of travelling on luxurious cross-continental trains.

A true showcase of Bespoke artistry

Pinnacle Travel Phantom is a true showcase of the Rolls-Royce Bespoke team's expertise. The richness of its two-tone exterior colour scheme of Madeira Red complemented by Silver Sand on the lower side panels, hints at the luxury awaiting the traveller inside. Whilst a unique Madeira Red coach line, with an abstract motif of a streamlined train travelling at speed, invites you onboard for a journey of discovery. Infinity Black combined with Silver Haze or Melanite combined with Palladium are also offered as colour schemes.

The opulent colour scheme continues inside with a number of Morello Red and Seashell leather combinations for seats, roofliner, pillars and door cards plus specifically developed Morello Red lambs wool floor mats to produce a cosseting interior in which to travel, no matter how long the journey. A further motif in Smoke Grey thread evoking luxury travel and showcasing the craftsmanship of Rolls-Royce is stitched into the seat flutes and is echoed in individual fabric cushions which heighten the comfort for both rear travellers.

The pièce de la resistance, however, is the most complex and intricate marquetry ever seen inside a Rolls-Royce. Using methods akin to the artistry of fine furniture makers, Rolls-Royce creates perfection through a process that marries cutting-edge technology with traditional craftsmanship. Individual pieces of wood veneer are laser-cut to ensure precision. Then, a craftsperson painstakingly assembles the sections, ensuring they perfectly express the vision of the marque's Bespoke design team. A fastidious process of quality control follows, utilising the world's most accurate measuring tool – the human eye.

In the case of Pinnacle Travel Phantom, 230 individual pieces of marquetry combine to create the incredibly striking motifof a cross-continental train speeding across a landscape with plumes of steam left in its wake. This motif flows across the front-fascia pieces of glove box and passenger panel to the rear picnic tables and door cappings. The same motif bleeds onto the door cards through 24,633 individual stitches, emphasising the painstaking craftsmanship required to perfectly match the two details.

By Brandon Turkus