2024 Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail Photos, engines & full specs

This was no ordinary car but a one-off product custom-made by Rolls-Royce for a customer who wanted a vehicle like no other, and the British luxury brand produced it.

With a name inspired by Greek mythology, the Arcadia came alive as a heavenly vehicle built for someone who wished to feel like they were on cloud number nine. This vehicle was part of a series of four bespoke products, all sharing the drop tail moniker and each being built in a different way. They all evoked a specific idea. So, after the La Rose Noire, which envisioned the rarity of a black Baccara rose, and the Amethyst Droptail that celebrated the rarity of a jewel, the 2024 Arcadia followed. It was mostly handcrafted from the ground up by British automaker specialists. Furthermore, it featured a few astonishing details that only a true connoisseur would see and appreciate. Surprisingly, the Droptail sibling products were not built on the same platform as other Rolls-Royce products. They benefited from a custom-made one. The only thing that was shared with other stablemates was the smooth-running V12 powerplant under the hood.

The only thing that could stop the automaker from creating a stunning vehicle was its designers’ imagination. Fortunately, they were inspired. At the front, the 2024 Arcadia featured a broad, hand-built silver grille in the middle. Rolls-Royce flanked it with high-mounted narrow laser headlights that featured the RR logo inside them. A thin line of LEDs ran above them as eyebrows. Raising from the contrasting-color black hood was the Spirit of Ecstasy that bowed toward the RR badge.

From its profile, the big and white open-top vehicle featured clean panels with just a slight crease that slowly descended from the front fenders toward the rear wheel arches, crossing the rear-hinged door. A set of bespoke, 22-inch alloy wheels. At first sight, it was a minimalist design, but it was incredible in terms of tiny details that made the car so gorgeous. The read deck, for instance, sported 76 wood pieces. Underneath it, the automaker placed the trunk and the retractable hard top. To select and add protection for the veneer pieces, Rolls-Royce specialists were inspired by the superyachts industry and perfected the testing methods. As a result, it took them 8,000 hours to create all 233 pieces of wood veneer that were installed on the vehicle.

The cabin was a statement of fine details and luxury. Take, for instance, the analog clock that adorned the wood-covered dashboard. It featured 119 facets because the customer saw the Arcadia project in 2023 when the car manufacturer celebrated 119 years of existence. There were just two seats in the cabin that sported the same colors as the bodywork and the wood pieces. A few metallic parts adorned the cockpit, including the speakers’ covers from the rear panel and from the door cards. On the dashboard, a revolving panel concealed the touchscreen infotainment system placed above the center stack. There was an incredible level of detail that only Rolls-Royce could achieve.

The automaker wasn’t keen to say anything about the drivetrain. But it was just natural for it to choose the same V12 powerplant from the other two Droptail versions, the 6.75-liter twin-turbocharged powerplant developed by BMW.