No Rolls-Royce Has Ever Put The Petal To The Metal Like This

It’s springtime in the Northern Hemisphere, and for Japan, that means one of the most beautiful sights in the world. Sakura, or cherry blossoms, begin to bloom and flower around the country, creating stunning displays of the flowered trees that are a signature of the land.

One Rolls-Royce buyer has commissioned a sakura of their own. Meet the Phantom Cherry Blossom, a one-off that tries to capture the flowers on the inside, letting them live for more than just a few short days before they begin to fall from the country’s trees.

Bespoke Rolls Took Three Years To Complete

While cultivating the trees can take generations, the Phantom Cherry Blossom took three years to bloom. Rolls-Royce craftspersons traveled to Japan to meet the unnamed client and understand their vision for this bespoke car.

The effect the owner wanted was to capture the feeling of sitting below a blooming cherry tree. The end result is a Starlight Headliner with more than 250,000 stitches. The cherry branch and its white flowers were hand-stitched and took three weeks to complete on their own.

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This car’s embroidered cherry blossoms don’t stop at the edge of the headliner. They extend to the rear doors and even the privacy partition separating driver and cabin. That work took another six months to complete. Just one person completed the 3D embroidery using a Japanese tatami stitch. The branches intertwine and flow across the car.

Instead of the usual star map, the fiber-optic lights on this car are arranged to complement the handmade and hand-applied flowers, creating soft shadows and clever highlights. This car likely cost a million to build, so the details had best be fancy.

Even The Umbrellas Are Bespoke

Showing that this is one of Rolls’ most elaborate builds to date, even the umbrellas on this car get the cherry blossom treatment. The brollies have a falling petal motif, even though they’ll likely never leave their in-door storage space. Certainly not in the rain.

Rolls uses the Japanese word Hanami to describe the car. It means “flower viewing” and it refers to an ancient tradition of gathering with friends and family to celebrate the blossoms and their fleeting beauty.

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This one is fancy even by Rolls-Royce standards.

After the extravagance of the cabin, the exterior is shockingly simple. Crystal over Arctic White paint wears a hand-painted pinstripe (Rolls calls it a Coachline) that is adorned with yet another blossom motif.

This one-off is a stunning creation and the effect is hyperrealistic, which only makes us wonder what Goodwood will do next to raise the bar once again. We’re sure we won’t be disappointed.