Rolls‑Royce SUV hitting the road for testing

Cullinan – named after the world’s largest diamond – has been spotted before but that was as a Phantom-based “mule”. The pictures shown here are of the actual car, the first development vehicle built at Goodwood, albeit hidden under plenty of disguise. As such it is an important staging post for the project, which was announced at the start of 2015 and should result in an unveiled car in 2018.

What can we tell about this most intriguing of new cars from the pictures? The overall shape is still hidden – we have a feeling that the back end is going to be particularly interesting – and the design details are obscured. But still it is easy to tell how much of a Rolls-Royce it is – the best disguise in the world can’t conceal the famous Pantheon grille or such a stately demeanor. This is a large car, likely shorter but taller than a Phantom. R-R has already confirmed that under the Cullinan’s body is a whole new aluminium architecture.

It is also easy to see how much room around the wheels (they are likely 21s or 22s) there is. When Rolls-Royce uses the phrase “high-sided all-terrain vehicle” it means it. There appears to be lots of ground clearance here, in line with R-R’s intent for the all-wheel drive Cullinan to offer serious all-terrain ability. “Effortless…everywhere” is the epithet used. 

What is odds on to be the world’s most luxurious and expensive high-sided all-terrain vehicle (Rolls-Royce doesn’t use the term SUV) when it is launched in 2018, the Cullinan prototype won’t be on the roads of West Sussex for long. Soon after Christmas, it’s off to the Arctic Circle for cold weather durability and traction testing, and then later in 2017 it will be going to the Middle East for high temperature and desert testing.

“This is an incredibly exciting moment in the development of Project Cullinan both for Rolls-Royce and for the patrons of luxury that follow us around the world,” comments Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

“Bringing together the new four-wheel drive system and the new ‘architecture of luxury’ for the first time sets us on the road to creating a truly authentic Rolls-Royce which, like its forebears, will reset the standard by which all other luxury goods are judged.”