On your marques: Inside the new era of ultra-bespoke supercars

Get set for the new wave of customisable cars taking personalisation to unprecedented heights. From Aston Martin’s Q Collection to Rolls-Royce, Bentley Mulliner, McLaren and even Cadillac’s ultra-exclusive Celestiq, Simon de Burton explores how the world’s leading marques are redefining bespoke design for a new generation of collectors.

Plenty of visitors to this year’s Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show will be familiar with the myriad processes that go into the bespoke elements of a yacht, from choosing the colour of its hull to the furnishings of the master cabin and the equipment in the gym.

Now similar levels of personalisation have become key in the world of supercars, too. Earlier this year, Pedro Mota, president of Aston Martin in the US, decided he wanted a showcase car that reflected the unique vibe of Florida’s Palm Beach.

Cue Q Collection, Aston’s 007-inspired customisation division, which was established in 2011. It now comprises Q by Aston Martin Collection, offering special paint and trim options and other enhancements to production cars, and Q by Aston Martin Commission, launched in 2017 to create entirely bespoke cars from the ground up.

To meet Mota’s brief, Q Collection built a DB12 Volante with a paint finish in Frosted Blue Glass to reflect the sun shimmering off the Palm Beach seafront and an interior with subtle palm leaf motifs and seat backs made from light olive ash veneer – the closest practical wood to actual palm bark.

Famous for its sky’s-the-limit bespoke service, Rolls-Royce is also said to be in overdrive creating cars with individual features that reflect elements of the high-end watches, superyachts, fine homes and private planes that are considered de rigueur among its buyers.

Among cars to have left the Goodwood factory are a Dawn that commemorated the Czech squadrons of the Royal Air Force (complete with Latin mottos on the doors and an image of a Merlin aircraft engine stitched into the rear seat); a Dawn Black Badge built for Google exec Benjamin Treynor Sloss featuring a blue and yellow colour scheme based on the Modenese flag, and a Cullinan SUV with a “viewing suite” comprising two rear-facing leather chairs and a cocktail table that emerge from the floor of the load area at the touch of a button.

Another marque famous for recognising that “the customer is always right” when it comes to personalisation requirements is Bentley, the bespoke department of which operates under the name Mulliner.

These days, Mulliner is busier fulfilling special requests than it has been since it ceased to produce hand-built bodywork more than 65 years ago. It has a dedicated “co-creation” team that works with owners to put together complete packages to add bespoke elements to the car inside and out – which means anything from tweed and tartan upholstery for a Scottish owner to Bentayga SUVs fitted with the necessary paraphernalia for fly fishing, game shooting and even falconry.

And, if you do want a Bentley with bodywork of your own design, Mulliner will, once again, create whatever you fancy (within the parameters of safety, reason and good taste, of course).

McLaren, meanwhile, maintains a state-of-the-art configurator suite at its HQ where buyers can build a virtual car on a giant screen by choosing from a countless combination of paint colours, interior materials, and wheel designs – a process that usefully reduces the likelihood of the actual car looking like a four-wheeled horror story.

Ferrari’s Tailor Made service and Porsche’s Sonderwunsch (or “special request”) programmes offer similarly comprehensive opportunities to make a car your own – in fact, Porsche will even build you one from scratch if you opt for its “factory one-off” service.

And if you want an off-roader like no other, Jaguar Land Rover will send you to its Special Vehicle Operations division, where buyers can visualise their dream wheels using Radio Frequency Identification. It reads colour samples and then projects an accurate representation onto a full-scale model. It’s also possible to have personalised graphics laser-engraved onto door handles and footplates or meticulously embroidered onto headrests.

It isn’t only European marques that offer such a service, either – in exchange for a sum starting in the “low $400,000s”, Cadillac, America’s answer to Rolls-Royce, will build you a one-off example of its Celestiq electric flagship, the first of which was delivered in June.

The Celestiq is described as “the most advanced Cadillac ever” in terms of its technology, with features such as a four-zone smart glass sunroof, a quintet of high-definition interface displays, 38-speaker surround-sound hi-fi and four-zone microclimate control, all coming as standard.

But it’s the bespoke element of this radical-looking “ultra luxury sedan” that’s really the key. For the first time in decades, an American production car can be built almost exactly to an individual’s requirements using a truly vast range of materials, finishes and design touches.

Just 25 such cars will be completed this year, with two produced per month thereafter. If you find yourself on the waiting list, you’ll be invited to visit the spectacular, glass-walled Cadillac House in Warren, Michigan, where a personal concierge will patiently take note of your Celestiq desires and help to expedite them.

And if you desire a similarly unique and patriotic two-wheeler to keep your Celestiq company in the garage, that can be arranged by legendary US motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson, which offers a high-end personalisation service under its Custom Vehicle Operations banner.

Prospective buyers can configure a bike online, adding a wealth of custom parts that can send the base price of a range-topping Road Glide model from $45,999 to almost $60,000 in a matter of minutes. And that’s before you’ve even looked at the thousands of other available accessories. Harley-Davidson decanter set for your boat’s bar, anyone?

First published in the November 2025 issue of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.