Skip to main content

The Rolls-Royce Phantom Syntopia brings haute fashion to cars

Rolls claims that the one-off is the most complex Phantom ever made

Amid the electric vehicle revolution and the introduction of more semi-autonomous technology, automakers are eager to change their bios from traditional automakers to tech companies. Rolls-Royce, well, Rolls-Royce is different. While the iconic British marque has introduced its first EV with the Spectre, Rolls-Royce really does expand its reach beyond the world of cars as a luxury marque. Case in point, the latest vehicle from Rolls-Royce is the Phantom Syntopia. It was made in collaboration with Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen and blends the worlds of high fashion and cars.

You may not think that fashion and cars belong together, but the Syntopia certainly makes a case for more collaboration across the two industries. The Syntopia is very purple and is inspired by the concept of “weaving water.” The automaker, which has created some stunning vehicles over its extensive history, calls the Syntopia a “bespoke masterpiece.” Heavy words from a brand that’s known for going above and beyond with some of the most bespoke vehicles on sale. But we believe the company certainly went to great lengths to make the Syntopia, seeing as how it took Rolls-Royce four years to perfect.

If you’re looking at the Syntopia and are finding yourself wondering what makes the version of the Phantom so special, the list is long enough to warrant its own catalog. Starting with the outside, fans or purple will notice the car’s exquisite paint scheme. The body is finished in iridescent liquid noir paint that, depending on the amount of light that’s shining down, reveals shades of blue, gold, purple, and magenta. If you manage to get an overhead view of the hood, you’ll notice a shimmering water pattern that’s painted directly onto the hood. The paint alone for the car took several months to get right and required more than 3,000 hours of testing.

The Syntopia’s paint job is stunning, but the interior is what really makes it remarkable. The headliner is nothing short of spectacular and makes the automaker’s starlight headliner look like an Ikea special. The Weaving Water Starlight Headliner is made of a single piece of leather, which was chosen from more than 1,000 hides available, that features a 3D design thanks to woven nylon fabric that’s positioned underneath the leather. To top things off, the 3D design is fitted with 162 “delicate petals made of glass organza.” Of course, Rolls-Royce also included 1,000 fiber-optic lights, or stars. Rolls-Royce claims that the headliner took roughly 700 hours to complete.

Rolls-Royce and van Herpen fitted the front seats with Magic Grey Leather, the rear seats with a special silk-blend fabric, and utilized interior materials that were made by the automaker’s Rolls-Royce Bespoke Collective and van Herpen’s team. The Syntopia’s weaving water theme can also be found on the passenger panel and tables. What really takes the Syntopia to another level is that the car has its own scent. That’s right, this is the first Rolls-Royce to have its own bespoke smell that’s piped into the vehicle through the headrests. The scent reportedly includes hints of leather, cedarwood, rose, lemon, and iris.

With Rolls-Royce and van Herpen’s team going to such great lengths to create the Syntopia, one would expect the vehicle to be a highly limited model. You’d be right. The Syntopia is truly one of a kind, because Rolls-Royce only made one model. The extremely well-off buyer will be taking delivery of the vehicle later this May. Rolls-Royce has already stated that it will never replicate the Syntopia, giving the owner an immediate collector’s item.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Joel Patel
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Joel Patel is a former contributor for The Manual. His work has also been featured on Autoweek, Digital Trends, Autoblog…
Get bidding: Sotheby’s is auctioning an iconic Lamborghini Countach from The Wolf of Wall Street
This Lamborghini shared a scene with Leonardo DiCaprio
The 25th anniversary lamborgnini countach in white

For many people who grew up the 1980s and 1990s, the Lamborghini Countach was a dream car. The iconic Italian supercar is the sort of thing you’d see in the driveway of a movie star, drug baron, or a world-class financial fraudster. A Countach closely associated with the latter is going to be up for sale this December. RM Sotheby’s is listing one of the white Countaches from Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street as part of its “December Luxury Week” auctions.

However, if you want to flip open the gull-wing doors and sit behind the wheel of this classic supercar, you may have to part with a couple of million. The renowned auction house expects the hammer to come down with the bidding somewhere between $1,500,000 and $2,000,000 -- an amount that could buy you a lot of shady penny stocks.

Read more
This is every automaker that will adopt Tesla’s Supercharger network for EVs
Plus, the details on a new collaboration that will make the future of electric vehicle charging even better
Tesla Supercharger station

Tesla is the most popular electric vehicle brand in North America. Of course, one of the reasons why Tesla became synonymous with electric vehicles is because it revolutionized the EV industry. But to make it convenient to drive an electric car, Tesla built its own fast-charging stations across North America to support its vehicles. As other automakers tried to catch up with Tesla by adopting electric vehicles, Tesla built a reputation for offering the most reliable charging network to its customers.

Initially, Tesla was not open to sharing full access to its charging infrastructure with its competitors. As a result, two common charging standards for EVs developed over the years — Combined Charging System (CSS) and Tesla’s North America Charging Standard (NACS). However, with the U.S. government accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles, a significant number of automakers decided to adopt Tesla’s North America Charging Standard. A group of automakers have also banded together to create a network with over 30,000 charging stations in North America. What does all this mean? Charging your EV will soon be a lot easier.

Read more
Survey: Tesla drivers love their cars but not Elon Musk
Musk seems to be alienating Tesla drivers, according to a new poll
Tesla Model 3 and Model Y parked in front of a city skyline on a runway.

Elon Musk is as much a part of Tesla as a battery pack, motor, or a misleading demonstration video, but a recent survey by Bloomberg has indicated the EV company’s customer base may have had enough of its billionaire owner.

The new survey is a follow up from a 2019 survey that involves a 130-question sheet that the news outlet handed to 5,000 Tesla customers. Opinions of Musk back then were pretty positive. Fast forward four years, and Tesla is still the planet’s most popular EV brand. But the public opinion of its owner has not fared as well.

Read more