Coachbuilt Rolls-Royce Wraith Shooting Brake Is Perfect For Hauling Whatever Useless Junk You Own
Modern pickup trucks are fancy, but they ain’t got a V12.
Coachbuilding happens to expensive cars because coachbuilding, by nature, is expensive. Adding the sheet metal fanny pack necessary to turn a car into a wagon or shooting brake isn't cheap. This is why it usually happens to expensive cars—or turns cheap cars into pricey ones. This Rolls-Royce Wraith shooting brake is a prime example of the former. It's an expensive car made more expensive, a roomy car made roomier, and a pretty car made—in the opinion of some—prettier.
It's a clean, Bondo-less job thanks to the coachbuilder Carat Duchatelet, which built the car under the direction of Dutch designer Niels van Roij. He's the man behind other eye-catching, coach-built cars that have been produced in small quantities as of late, such as the conversion of a Tesla Model S into a wagon, and a small batch of ostentatious two-door Range Rovers. This latest Rolls Royce conversion is the most exclusive yet, however. Just seven of these 591-horsepower cars will be made.
There's no word on the price, however, but the current sticker for a Wraith starts at $330,000 for the poverty-spec base model. Therefore, this conversion is bound to be north of that. I suspect it's likely there's no price yet because, with such a small production run, it is difficult to predict accurate costing from the outset. Plus, every build will most likely vary due to the customer's taste, so no two will be priced alike.
It also appears as if this design has been in the making for some time. The designer, van Roij, has had one of the most frivolous design presentations I have ever seen of a Rolls Royce shooting brake concept posted to his Youtube channel for five years. Yes, you have to wait through two and a half minutes of CGI, sound effects, flower petals, pianos, and more until a portion of the concept vehicle actually peeks into the frame.
A good transition would've been "frivolity aside," however, the frivolity continues. Just like the regular Wraith, it will seat four in comfort and jet them around silently thanks to a 6.6-liter, twin-turbocharged V12 from BMW. Performance will perhaps be hampered a bit by the aforementioned sheet metal fanny pack, however, it's not likely to bother anyone who will shell out the exorbitant price one of these will command.
If you don't want to spend the money on these ultra-exclusive luxury cars, just remember; there's always a more compact option.
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