I toured Rolls Royce’s new NYC ‘Private Office’ where wealthy buyers can customize their $500,000+ cars — see inside

The British automaker’s new outpost isn’t a street-level showroom where prospective buyers can see a Phantom or Ghost up close.

It’s where clients go (if they’ve been invited) to transform their new Phantom, Spectre, Ghost, or Cullinan into a multimillion-dollar piece of bespoke drivable art.

Like most Private Office clients, it’ll likely be their third — or 33rd — Rolls-Royce purchase.

The glitzy automaker sells about 5,000 to 6,000 cars annually, roughly a third of which go to North America, its largest market.

In 2023, commissions averaged about $500,000 — a $200,000 increase from five years prior, Gerry Spahn, the company’s head of communications, told BI.

Only a handful — those well over the average cost — are complex enough to require the technical expertise of its design studio, known as the Private Office.

The team can color-match your ride to your favorite sweater, inlay your pet’s paw print onto the veneer, or, as one koi fish collector requested, etch a fish into the treadplate that illuminates when the doors open.

The Private Office aims to pad the buyer’s design process with a comfortable, high-end experience complete with cozy couches, a large dining table, and exclusive material samples.

Prefer milk chocolate over dark? Splenda over Stevia? Rolls-Royce will know and have the options prepared before you walk through its doors.

The Private Office plans to cater client meals from local Michelin-recognized restaurants and chefs to replicate this intimacy.

“If a client wants to spend two or three hours with us, go, and then come back for a glass of Champagne, this place is there for them to come in and feel like they’re in someone’s home,” Koutros said.

It just so happens that this “home” has an in-house Rolls-Royce designer and a wall of 42 chrome fins, a reference to its iconic grilles.

Look closely, and you’ll notice that the abstract wall-mounted art in the hallway is actually a 3D model of its UK factory.

It’s also tactile, made of materials you can find in its cars, such as lamb’s wool and mother of pearl.

The cluster of dichroic crystals — collectively called “90 Pairs of Hands” after the number of people who work on each Rolls-Royce vehicle — bleeds various colors at different lengths throughout the day.

The office expects a couple hundred visits yearly. Most would be from repeat guests as they chip away at their vehicle design.

If you request a design or materials that have been done before — such as the leather, veneer, and thread samples available at the studio — you could drive away with your car in about six to eight months, Spahn said.

Bespoke demands like a hand-painted dashboard or the creation of a new color could extend the delivery date.

If you request the use of an uncommon material that requires safety and durability tests, the wait could increase to two years.

Common commission requests include the celebration of birthdays and weddings.

Cara Vitry, the company’s regional bespoke designer, told BI that one client is doing both — customizing their Phantom to celebrate their recent marriage renewal and the birth of their daughter.

The starlight headliner would match the night sky of their daughter’s birth, and pieces of the wedding dress would be encased inside the gallery. It would also feature a one-of-a-kind color created by sampling the couple’s wedding photos.

“Our clients bring the stories, and we craft the stories into a commission that they can drive in,” Vitry said.

Another frequently commutes from Miami to New York, while some are farmers from the Midwest (according to Koutros, some of Rolls-Royce’s top clients work in agriculture).

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the automaker had yet to deliver a million-dollar car in the US, according to Spahn.

Now, it’s just another day at the automaker’s Private Office.