Million-Dollar Rolls-Royces

Last year was a record year for many automakers—not the least of which was Rolls-Royce.

This month the 113-year-old British brand reported that 2016 was its third consecutive record year for U.S. sales and its second-best year ever globally. The brand sold roughly 1,400 cars in the Americas, up 12 percent year over year, and hit 4,011 cars sold globally, up 6 percent for the same period.

Rolls’s new $339,850 Dawn convertible led the charge, accounting for half of total sales. But the robust bespoke program Rolls-Royce runs also bolstered sales: 20 percent of all Rolls-Royce cars are heavily bespoked, according to Pedro Mota, the head of Rolls-Royce Americas—and that’s on top of the usual customization most owners order. Twenty percent is the typical uptick price due to customization.

It makes sense. With an owner base that seeks a luxury that surpasses material acquisition, providing a complete bespoke process on a car is one of the few ways to elicit real emotion from potential buyers.

Torsten Müller-Ötvös, the chief executive officer of Rolls-Royce, is rather poetic about it: “In commissioning these extraordinary objects in close collaboration with our designers, they create a timeless legacy often profoundly inspired by the most important moments in [our owners'] lives.”  

Led by the launch of the Black Badge Bespoke Series, which is a special limited-edition variant of the Ghost and Wraith, the company has produced hundreds of totally unique cars, with the majority of them in 2016 going to owners in North America and the Middle East. Here are five of the best.

"Invest in the brand!"