Ride Inside a Rolls-Royce Artwork — Only at The Peninsula London as KOZO’s Art Fleet Hits the Streets
Artist KOZO has turned six Peninsula London cars, including two Rolls-Royce Phantoms, into one artwork you can book a ride in.
This month, the hottest gallery in London has wheels, leather seats and a chauffeur. Through October 31, The Peninsula London has handed six cars from its famous fleet, two Rolls-Royce Phantoms among them, to contemporary artist KOZO and Larry Warsh’s CART Department, and turned them into A World Within: one continuous artwork split across a Bentley Bentayga, a BMW i7, an electrified Austin Taxi and an LEVC, revealing a hidden British countryside beneath the hotel’s signature green paint. And unlike most masterpieces, you can book a ride in this one.
There are hotel cars. And then there are Peninsula cars.
My birthday visit brought me to The Peninsula London at precisely this moment, just as London’s busiest art month got underway. I came for the art cars. I left talking about the service, the views and a team that seemed to know what I needed before I did.
Photo Credit: Peninsula Beverly Hills
A Hotel With Motoring in Its DNA
To understand why the cars matter, go back to Hong Kong. In 1970, The Peninsula Hong Kong placed what was then the largest private order of Rolls-Royce Silver Shadows in history, a record the group has since broken seven times. Its green Rolls-Royces, finished in signature Brewster Green, became one of hospitality’s most recognizable signatures.
What’s fascinating is how thoroughly they’re thought through. Peninsula specifications extend to chilled-towel storage, passenger lighting and luggage compartments fitted with countersunk screws and protective covers so suitcases never get scratched. Wood veneers are chosen for consistency of grain and color, and leather, climate controls and the smallest passenger comforts get the same scrutiny. You may never consciously notice any of it. That’s exactly the point: someone has anticipated the friction of travel before you ever meet it.
London is the ideal stage for that philosophy. British automotive design is part of the national vocabulary, from the formality of a Rolls-Royce and the sporting swagger of a Bentley to the silhouette of a black cab. The London fleet even includes a 1935 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Sedanca de Ville and a custom 1960 Austin FX4 Sedanca Brougham taxi, alongside electric models, a hotel just as interested in where motoring is going as where it’s been.
Photo Credit: Peninsula Beverly Hills Photo Credit: Peninsula Beverly Hills
Six Cars, One Continuous Artwork
For A World Within, KOZO worked across six vehicles: two Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII Series II Extended Wheelbases, a Bentley Bentayga, an electrified Austin Taxi, a BMW i7 and an LEVC. Each carries a different section of a larger composition. Individually, every car tells its own story; together, they form a landscape that unfolds across the fleet.
KOZO uses the illusion of torn paper to reveal a hidden world beneath the green. The Peninsula’s familiar Pages appear to peel back the bodywork, exposing pastoral scenes of stately homes, rivers, wooded hills and bridges. The hotel’s Guardian Lions and nearby Wellington Arch tie the imagined landscape to the real one, so you might glimpse a London landmark in the artwork while driving past the very thing that inspired it. And because Peninsula Green remains part of the composition, the cars never lose their identity.
KOZO’s background in microrealism and tattooing makes this a fascinating commission. Cars are notoriously tricky canvases, with doors that interrupt an image, curves that distort perspective and proportions that change completely between a Phantom and a taxi, and the work has to read in motion. CART Department brings the automotive-art expertise: Warsh’s collection spans more than 60 Art Cars by the likes of Keith Haring, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Damien Hirst and Olafur Eliasson.
The best part? Guests book the ride, but anyone on the pavement gets to see the show. In a month when so much of London’s art lives behind gallery doors, that accessibility is a real gift.
Photo Credit: The Peninsula London
The Address Behind the Arrival
The hotel makes a magnificent backdrop. At Hyde Park Corner, overlooking Wellington Arch, The Peninsula London sits at the grand meeting point of Belgravia and ceremonial London. Purpose-built and opened in September 2023, with architecture by Hopkins Architects and interiors by Peter Marino, it has a landscaped courtyard that lets the arrival unfold far from the traffic, a genuine luxury at this address.
Upstairs, the 190 rooms and suites feature bespoke furnishings and art, mahogany-paneled dressing rooms and honey-onyx bathrooms, many with views over Wellington Arch or Belgravia. Marino gives the hotel a residential calm: the materials supply the richness, so nothing has to shout. For a celebratory trip, that balance is just right. London provides the spectacle; the hotel gives you somewhere to retreat, change for dinner and enjoy the luxury of having nowhere to be for an hour.
The art continues inside, too. More than 40 artists from The Royal Drawing School created nearly 200 works of British landscapes for the rooms and suites, so KOZO’s imagined countryside feels like a natural extension of a conversation the hotel was already having.
Photo Credit: The Peninsula London
Photo Credit: The Peninsula London
The Stay: Service That Knows You Before You Ask
Beautiful cars and a beautiful building can get a hotel noticed. What made me fall for The Peninsula London was the people.
From the moment I arrived, the level of attention and care was extraordinary. Everyone remembered my name, not just at the front desk but in the corridors, the lobby and the elevator, as if word of my arrival had quietly traveled through the entire building. It’s a small thing that changes everything: within a day, the hotel felt less like somewhere I was staying and more like somewhere I was expected.
Then there was the anticipation. Every need was met before I’d even said it out loud. A request half-formed in my head was somehow already being taken care of, and it happened so smoothly that I only noticed afterward. That’s the hardest thing in hospitality to teach, and The Peninsula makes it look effortless. It’s the same philosophy as those countersunk screws in the car trunks, applied to people: someone has thought about what you’ll need before you get the chance to need it.
Photo Credit: The Peninsula London
And the views. From the hotel’s upper floors, London unfolds in every direction, Wellington Arch, the green sweep of Hyde Park, the rooftops of Belgravia and the skyline beyond. They’re stunning, epic views, the kind that stop you mid-sentence, and I found myself lingering by the windows far longer than any itinerary allows.
For a birthday trip, I couldn’t have asked for more. The Peninsula London doesn’t just look after you; it makes you feel genuinely looked after, which is a very different and far rarer thing.
Photo Credit: The Peninsula London
The Automotive Story Goes Upstairs
The clearest expression of the hotel’s motoring obsession beyond the fleet is Brooklands by Claude Bosi, the rooftop restaurant named for Britain’s historic racing circuit. Designed by Archer Humphryes, it draws on aviation and motorsport, with a suspended Concorde model, automotive memorabilia and sweeping views over London. The cars downstairs introduce the subject; Brooklands gives you a delicious reason to keep exploring it.
What I’ll remember most about Brooklands, though, is the team. At the Brooklands bar, the care and courtesy from every single person was exceptional: warm, gracious and attentive without ever hovering, the kind of service that turns one drink with a view into the highlight of the evening. Sitting up there with London glittering below and a team that clearly takes such pride in looking after its guests, I understood why people come back.
Elsewhere, Canton Blue and its neighboring bar, Little Blue, celebrate the exchange between Asian and British cultures, afternoon tea in The Lobby delivers the classic Peninsula ritual and the 25-meter indoor pool is a persuasive argument for leaving part of the itinerary blank. It’s a hotel that rewards staying in, at an address that makes going out very tempting.
Photo Credit: The Peninsula London
Taking the Long Way Home
The Peninsula’s wider fleet shows how much a vehicle can say about a place: teak riverboats in Bangkok, a Sarao Jeepney in Manila, a 1967 Citroën 2CV in Paris, a restored 1946 Packard Clipper in Chicago. London’s art fleet adds something new, transportation as a temporary cultural experience, specific to one city and one month.
That’s what makes A World Within such a perfect expression of the hotel. It builds on something already central to the Peninsula story and gives guests a fresh reason to look closely. In a city where the temptation is always to squeeze in one more exhibition or reservation, there’s something wonderful about making the time between them memorable. Especially when the ride is the exhibition.
Haute Living Verdict: London’s most original art show this month is on four wheels, and its most gracious service is waiting at the end of the ride. Book the Phantom before Oct. 31, then stay for the people.
A World Within runs October 1–31, 2026. The art cars are available to book for transportation by guests of The Peninsula London, Hyde Park Corner.
Photo Credit: The Peninsula London
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is A World Within at The Peninsula London?
A collaboration between artist KOZO, CART Department and The Peninsula London that turns six fleet vehicles into one connected artwork, on the streets of London October 1–31, 2026.
Which cars are in The Peninsula London art fleet?
Two Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII Series II Extended Wheelbase cars, a Bentley Bentayga, an electrified Austin Taxi, a BMW i7 and an LEVC taxi.
Can you ride in the KOZO art cars?
Yes. The cars remain in service and hotel guests can book them for transportation throughout October 2026.
Who is KOZO?
A contemporary artist with a background in microrealism and tattooing. For The Peninsula London, KOZO used the illusion of torn paper to reveal a hidden British landscape beneath the cars' green paintwork.
Why does The Peninsula use Rolls-Royces?
The tradition began in 1970, when The Peninsula Hong Kong placed what was then the largest private order of Rolls-Royce Silver Shadows. The group has broken that record seven times since, and its cars are finished in signature Brewster Green.
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