There’s no doubt the Nightingale divides opinion – Telegraph reader comments ranged from “wow” to critical, beautiful to “yeeuch”. The £7.5 million, 5.7m-long convertible, a product of Rolls-Royce’s super-exclusive Coachbuild division revealed to the public on Tuesday, is a car whose beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
A carefully selected group of Rolls-Royce clients were involved at every stage of its concept and development. All 100 Nightingales – the first of Rolls’s Coachbuild Collection range – were sold months before its existence was known.
Importantly, they think it’s a “wow” car.
Veil of secrecy
I had spent more than a year respecting the veil of secrecy around the development of the car, going behind the scenes, attending confidential briefings and visiting “Building 98”, Rolls-Royce’s access-only factory, witnessing its concept and full-sized mock-up in preparation for first deliveries in 2028.
Quite incredibly, since clients were engaged in 2023, there had been no “spyshot” scoops of a disguised car during testing or car-geek chatter about its existence.
