Rolls-Royce is pushing its ultra-luxury playbook in a new direction with Project Nightingale, an electric open-top two-seater that launches the brand’s new Coachbuild Collection. The company is not presenting it as just another limited special, but as the first example of a new program built around small-run, fully road-legal cars and multi-year client involvement.
Only 100 examples will be built by hand at Goodwood, with deliveries scheduled to begin in 2028.
That instantly places Nightingale in a very different category from the regular Rolls-Royce lineup.
It also shows how the company wants to turn coachbuilding into something broader than a one-off commission. Industry reports say the 100 cars are already accounted for through invitation-only client selection, though Rolls-Royce itself has not publicly disclosed pricing.
A New Chapter For Coachbuilding
Rolls-Royce announced the Coachbuild Collection in March as a new superluxury proposition that sits between its mainstream production models and its most extreme one-off commissions. The company says each collection will be rare, fully homologated, created to be driven, and never repeated in the same form.
That is an important shift. Instead of asking a client to shape every line from scratch, Rolls-Royce is now authoring the core vision itself and then curating each individual car with its invited owners.
Project Nightingale is the first expression of that idea, and Rolls-Royce says clients are already taking part in a multi-year program of private gatherings and development experiences around the car. In other words, the product is not just the vehicle but the entire commissioning journey around it.
Design Drawn From History, But Not Stuck In It
The look is dramatic even by Rolls-Royce standards. Officially, Nightingale takes inspiration from the marque’s 1928 experimental 16EX and 17EX models, with a torpedo-shaped profile, a long hood, a tight two-seat cabin, and a very extended rear deck.
At 18.9 feet long, it is almost exactly Phantom-sized, yet it is devoted entirely to a two-seat convertible layout. Rolls-Royce also says it wears the largest wheels ever fitted to one of its cars at 24 inches, along with a grille nearly 39 inches wide.
This project also carries real design significance inside the company. Domagoj Dukec became Rolls-Royce Director of Design on October 1, 2024, and the Nightingale already looks like an early statement of where the brand’s form language could be heading next, with cleaner surfaces, stronger vertical lighting, and a more sculptural sense of proportion.
Electric Power With Some Mystery Left Intact
Rolls-Royce has confirmed that Nightingale uses a fully electric drivetrain, and the company says that choice was shaped by strong client enthusiasm for electric Rolls-Royce ownership after Spectre. It is also central to the car’s character because the brand wanted the near silence of EV propulsion to define the open-air experience.
What Rolls-Royce has not released are the final technical numbers. There is no official output figure, battery size, or range target yet, so claims about a larger pack than Spectre or a specific driving range remain speculation for now.
What the company has said is more revealing in another way. Nightingale’s soft top uses a special sound-deadening mix of cashmere, fabric, and high-performance composites, and Rolls-Royce says the goal is to preserve the romance of open-air driving while keeping the cabin unusually calm when the roof is up or down.
Why Nightingale Matters Beyond The Car Itself
Inside, the project is just as theatrical as the exterior. Rolls-Royce has created a new Starlight Breeze treatment with 10,500 illuminated points wrapping around the doors and the space behind the seats, while the center armrest and door trim borrow a saddle-inspired form that reinforces the car’s handcrafted identity.
Outside the design studio, Nightingale also fits a clear business logic. Rolls-Royce delivered 5,664 vehicles in 2025, and the company continues to lean heavily on Bespoke work and exclusivity to deepen margins and strengthen ties with its wealthiest clients.
That is what makes Project Nightingale more important than a simple limited-run halo car. It is a test of a new Rolls-Royce formula, one where electrification, coachbuilt design, and ultra-selective ownership all come together in a product the brand expects people to drive, not just lock away in a climate-controlled collection.
This article originally appeared on Autorepublika.com and has been republished with permission by Guessing Headlights. AI-assisted translation was used, followed by human editing and review.