Is the Rolls-Royce Dawn the sexiest car ever built?

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has long suffered a hole in their stable, refusing to offer a coupé bodystyle with open-top motoring potential. This segment they’ve ceded for decades to blood rivals Bentley, who dominate the market with their iconic Continental GTC. No more. Recently they unveiled the eagerly anticipated Dawn, a sleek, downsized Rolls with the more athletic, taut profile of a coupé.

“Our new Rolls-Royce Dawn promises a striking, seductive encounter like no other Rolls-Royce to date and begins a new age of open-top, superluxury motoring,” vowed MüllerÖtvös. “It will be the most social of super-luxury drophead motor cars for those who wish to bathe in the sunlight of the world’s most exclusive social hotspots.”

Rolls outfitted the Dawn with endless luxury appointments including intricate hand stitching on the Mandarin leather seatbacks, a hand-painted coach line running along the car’s length, lustrous Midnight Sapphire exterior paint, stainless steel door handles, polished 21" wheels, front and rear bumper jewellery and an analog chronograph on the dash with ‘Dawn’ etched in.

Reflecting the coupé’s more trim appeal, the Dawn receives a new headlamp treatment. Instead of blocky rectangles like others in the RR stable, the lights taper in towards the grille. With any convertible the most important angle is the profile, and head designer Giles Taylor went to great lengths to ensure the Dawn looked superb. This was accomplished via a sleek, fast centerline profile that features a heavily raked front and rear window.

The Dawn will be powered by Rolls’ 563bhp twin-turbo 6.6-litre V12. With enhanced accelerator pedal mapping (delivering 30 per cent more response at medium throttle) and the V12’s 575 lb-ft of torque, the droptop’s power should make the Dawn a joyful experience.