It’s no secret that Rolls Royce is currently in the development phase of its first-ever SUV. Of course, Rolls Royce won’t actually call it an SUV, that’s far too vulgar, so it’s called a “high-riding” luxury vehicle. Semantics aside, Rolls Royce will be making an SUV for the first time and it’s a big deal. What’s interesting, though, is that we’ve been calling it the “Cullinan” for some time now. That’s just what we’ve known it to be called. Turns out, though, that the first high-riding Roller won’t be called the Cullinan. Instead, the name is unknown. For now.
According to a report from SUVAuthority, Rolls Royce’s Asia-Pacific region, Hal Serudin, claimed that the Cullinan name is “just a working project title”. As far as what the official name is going to be, Serudin claimed that “more news on this in the coming year”.
As far as for what the unnamed ‘high-riding’ Roller might be like, it should be very similar to the new Phantom. Expect it to be based on the same new aluminum-extensive chassis Rolls developed for the Phantom VIII and the same 6.75 liter twin-turbocharged V12. It should also come with the same eight-speed ZF-sourced automatic gearbox and, another first for Rolls, all-wheel drive. So it should capable of driving up the gravel driveways in The Hamptons.
On the inside, don’t think that the new Rolls Royce SUV will be practical. While massive, most of the rear end will accommodate the rear passengers, so as to offer more legroom and luxury. There will also likely only be two seats in the back, with a massive console in between them. This isn’t a massive, ‘high-riding’ SUV for the purpose of utility but to add even more space, luxury and all-weather capability, the latter of which is something customers at this price point have been asking for. Hence the creation of the Bentley Bentayga, newly released Lamborghini Urus and soon-to-be Rolls Royce SUV. If only we knew its name.
[Source: Carscoops]
