World-class luxury, and a tail - 2017 Rolls Royce Sweptail

Gone are the days of the sleek, elegant and ultra-luxurious British marques. Bentley has resorted to making idiotic SUVs with way too much power, Jaguar has modernised and they too have an SUV, and Rolls Royce has gone to the dogs at the hands of the Germans. Blame globalisation or millennials or whatever is convenient, but it's a sad day for everyone when Rolls Royce decides sticking a tail onto a dignified and stylish design makes sense.

The 2017 Rolls Royce Sweptail is, thankfully, a one-off car. Someone with a lot of cash and a lot of influence approached Rolls Royce and asked them to make him a two door Roller with design influenced by the swept-tail Rolls' from the 1920s. Because no one wants to let go of that kind of customer, Rolls Royce obliged.

At the front, the Sweptail foregoes the rectangular headlights that was a mainstay of the Phantom, Ghost and Wraith, instead replaced by large roundels with a thin rectangular strip above it. The grille is fashioned out of a huge aluminum block, and is the largest fitted to a modern Rolls. The roof is panoramic glass and shows off the yacht inspired rear deck, ending just short of the tail area, which is flanked by the hideous and slightly vulgar taillights. Does it work? Considering it takes inspiration from the immensely beautiful 1925 Phantom I Round Door, no, it really doesn't. While the Phantom I swept-tail had graceful lines and oozed style from all its curves, the coach-built Sweptail is simply just too boxy to be beautiful. It's like adding a sweeping tail to a brick.

The price for this one-off Rolls that vaguely resembles the early model, Series I Range Rover? 13 MILLION USD. A high price to pay for a ridiculous machine that is neither graceful nor dignified.