One-Off Rolls-Royce Phantom Hyperion by Pininfarina Is a 10-Million Dollar Fail

While I'm at it, I must declare my hate towards minivans, most front-wheel drive vehicles, the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class since it's nothing more than a rebadged Benz, and unibody pickups. I never thought I'd say this, but not all coachbuilt cars are to my liking. One that I find very ugly (and I'm obviously not alone) is the Rolls-Royce Phantom Hyperion by Pininfarina.

I have already dedicated a few stories to this grotesque project, the latest of which dates back to last year. But it's 2023, so let's delve into it again, shall we? Now, you may be wondering why write about it again because it has failed to find itself a new home multiple times. Usually, that means that the vendor would slice the price, and the last time we saw it, it was listed for €4,265,000, equalling a little over $4.5 million at today's exchange rate.

So, how much do you think it is today? Actually, you already know the answer to that question. It's €9,286,000, or almost $10 million. Thus, it now costs more than twice as much as it did in 2022. Because that's what you do when you fail to sell a car for several years – double its price and hope that someone is crazy enough to pay that much for it. The vendor is the same high-end dealer based in Dubai, which has multiple high-end machines in its current portfolio.

We found a Mansory-tuned Bugatti Veyron, a Koenigsegg Regera, a McLaren P1 GTR, a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, a Maybach G 650 Landaulet, an SLS AMG Black Series, a Porsche 918 Spyder, and others. To no one's surprise, the coachbuilt oddity is the priciest of them all. You could get almost three Regeras for the cost of the Hyperion or 13 G-Wagen Landaulets. And we know they're not rivals, but do you really want this modified Rolls-Royce instead of an extraordinary hypercar?

Commissioned by Roland Hall, an avid car collector, it debuted at the 2009 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance – even if it is anything but elegant. Pininfarina was responsible for the work, and they used a Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe that has had its driving position moved back, the rear end shortened, the roof extended, and a new deck installed. It has seating for two, a blue soft top, blue bodywork, a tan leather interior, and packs the original engine.

This is the only positive aspect of this project that Pininfarina, which is otherwise a great Italian car design firm and coachbuilder, hasn't messed around with the 6.75-liter V12. It still produces 453 hp and 531 pound-feet (720 Nm) of torque, taking less than six seconds to hit 60 mph (97 kph). It is unknown how many horses still roam wild under the hood, but it should retain most of them, considering that it has 177 km (110 miles) on the odo – or so the ad reveals, anyway.

The original owner of the Rolls-Royce Phantom Hyperion by Pininfarina quickly realized that this wasn't the car of his dreams. Thus, he proceeded to sell it in 2009, allegedly for the equivalent of over $4.6 million. Over the years, images of it were posted on the used car market several times, and it is impossible to tell how many times it changed hands. Chances are not that many, as it still cannot attract a buyer. And it won't, not for ten million dollars, as spoiled for choice is an understatement to anyone who has that kind of money, and they're willing to blow it on a set of wheels.

As we told you back in 2022, it is possible that we will revisit the Rolls-Royce Phantom Hyperion by Pininfarina in 2024, too, and we're willing to bet that it will be slightly more affordable. Then again, the used car market is crazy these days, so we might be wrong on that. Either way, the idea is that it will still be on sale, as no one is crazy enough to blow an eight-digit sum on this hideous machine that's a pillar in the how-not-to-design coachbuilt cars, as money doesn't buy taste.

Now, if you found yourself a multi-billionaire overnight and you'd still feel the urge to build a massive car collection, could the Hyperion by Pininfarina make it to that list? And if so, how much would you be willing to pay for it? I'd probably go close to $100k just to be able to laugh about it every time I feel sad.