By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN
(CNN) — To get to Rolls Royce’s New York “Private Office,” a VIP design studio for bespoke projects, a customer must make their way to an unmarked building in lower Manhattan. Then they’ll take the elevator to the 8th floor, possible only through key card access by an attendant. There, they’ll discover a nicely appointed space with a kitchenette, a high-end sound system with stacks of vinyl records, a balcony, and a view toward the Hudson River.
The customers who enter here — by appointment only — know Rolls-Royce well. They’re among the ultraluxury automaker’s best customers. They come to discuss just how they want their cars: the colors — literally any color — the leathers, the woodwork rendition of their dog, the carved landscape with a gold river.
“This is real gold that’s painted with a brush after carving it out,” explained Cara Vitry, a designer for Rolls-Royce’s bespoke cars, as she traced the course of the miniature golden watercourse on a piece of dark wood with her finger.
This is one part of a growing industry trend catering to those who can have nearly anything they want in their cars. This sort of extreme customization has existed as long as cars have, but growing global wealth is bringing it into more automakers in more places, not just Rolls-Royce.
For these customers, there are no option packages, no boxes to check. There are in-house designers like Vitry to help guide grand ideas toward genuinely beautiful creations.
In many of these cases, buying a car becomes like commissioning artwork, said Vitry. Take the Spectre Bailey, for instance: someone wanted their electric Rolls-Royce coupé to capture the spirit and personality of their Labrador-Golden Retriever mix. Tucked into a small break in the pinstripes along each side of the tan-colored car is a hand-painted reproduction of Bailey’s paw print. Inside, there’s a wood veneer portrait of Bailey mounted between the two back seats.
Bailey’s marquetry portrait took more than 4 months to make, using 180 different pieces of veneer, according to Rolls-Royce. With more customers requesting this sort of thing, time has become an issue. So, Rolls-Royce is expanding its Goodwood factory in the UK, not to build more cars but to allow more time on each one.
Aston Martin also has its own customization studio in Manhattan, but this one makes no attempt to be coy. The space, called Q New York, sits on Park Avenue. There’s an Aston Martin sign on it, and there’s always an Aston Martin car parked behind its big windows. The little shop’s name comes from the quartermaster character, Q, who provides the gadgets and, more to the point, Aston Martin cars for James Bond in the famous movies.
Inside, there’s a room that can’t be seen from the street, where customers come to sit down with Aston Martin designers to discuss what they want on their particular cars.
It’s not just about making their car unique, insisted Aston Martin’s chief creative officer Marek Reichman. Anyone can do that without even trying. With the British automaker’s “standard” selection of interior and exterior colors, contrast stitching, trim materials and wheels, he estimates the various possible combinations come to hundreds of millions.
When people want to go beyond this, it’s because they want a story, not just a car. One buyer commissioned his 2025 Vanquish as a tribute to a late uncle, who owned a classic Aston Martin DB6