Rolls-Royce News: Rolls-Royce Teases Project Cullinan Prototype

[William Maley]

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Rolls-Royce is the latest automaker to announce they are working on an SUV known as Project Cullinan and today, the company has dropped a couple of pictures to give us a glimpse of what's in store.

Rolls doesn't call Project Cullinan an SUV. Instead, they describe the vehicle as being as an “all-terrain, high-sided vehicle.” (Is there such a thing too much pomp and circumstance? -WM) From the two pictures Rolls-Royce has released, Cullinan looks like a raised Phantom wagon. 

“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. 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,” said Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Rolls Royce's CEO in a statement.

Project Cullinan is also an important vehicle for Rolls-Royce. It will be one of the first vehicles, alongside the new Phantom to use a new aluminum architecture that will underpin future models. The SUV or “all-terrain, high-sided vehicle” is expected to debut sometime late next year.

Source: Rolls-Royce
Press Release is on Page 2

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PROJECT CULLINAN TAKES NEXT STEP IN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

In an open letter published in the Financial Times on 18 February 2015, Rolls-Royce undertook to regularly inform its stakeholders about the progress of Project Cullinan. Continuing this dialogue, which has seen twice-yearly updates, Rolls-Royce today publishes photographs depicting the latest key milestone in the development programme of this new ‘all-terrain, high-sided vehicle’. This first full development vehicle will begin testing in public from tomorrow.

The world’s leading luxury goods brand has regularly informed its patrons about this painstaking development programme. Advocates of the marque have been shown the first engineering mule built for the development of the new all-wheel drive suspension system, as well as those created to test the all-new aluminium architecture that will underpin all Rolls-Royces from 2018 onwards.

This latest development vehicle will travel to numerous locations around the world in a challenging testing programme to ensure that the end product will be ‘Effortless … Everywhere’. Just after Christmas, for example, Project Cullinan will enter the Arctic Circle to undergo cold weather durability and traction testing. Later in 2017, it will travel to the Middle East to endure the highest of temperatures and challenging desert conditions.

“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.”

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[David]

Looks like a butched up station wagon. Nothing new or exciting to see here.

[A Horse With No Name]

52 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Looks like a butched up station wagon. Nothing new or exciting to see here.

Agreed.....

[Suaviloquent]

This is going to be the most LAMEST luxury vehicle offering introduced, because the thing that this and the Bentayga sorely lack is the passion behind the product. 

It's just a simple deal about milking even more money. Yes, luxury cars are meant to serve the bottom line. But a maker like Rolls and Bentley, following the masses? 

It's just LAME. I would never buy a SUV from these two makes, only because, well, they're not about that. They're about their cars, their luxo limos, their thoroughly "adequate" sedans.  

I mean, Land Rover has the prestige of being the British SUV.

What the f*** is this? It doesn't look stately, nor does it have the presence. And honestly, it reminds me of the EXP 9 Bentley concept. And that was a concept. This is not a concept. 

What I mean is, regardless of how well this does, it just kind of has no element of surprise. DFelt hit it home, there's just nothing new to see here. We all have an idea of what a Rolls SUV would look like. And instead of redefining the brand, to signify the changing times, this is an utterly predictable extension of the brand.

Now if this was a super EV, with 400 miles of range, and fast charging, throw everything out the window, because Rolls and Bentley have the prestige to change their brand formula to include cutting-edge innovation that commands the highest premium in the industry.  But no, they have here another competent, "adequate" SUV, that will never change the current dynamics of the market. Probably it will just take sales away from their sedans to the crossover, not much conquest potential.

 

 

[smk4565]

I think it will look better when done and I think it will sell too.  The Ballers and Rappers that buy Escalades now will flock to this and there will be a waiting list.  It probably looks like a tall wagon in the teasers because the Phantom on which it is based is a huge car.  The Phantom is longer than a Chevy Suburban, it is over 2 feet longer than a Cadillac CT6.  I bet this truck is taller and wider than it appears here, and will look rugged enough to be an SUV, but restrained enough for Rolls-Royce.  

And now Rolls Royce Phantom owners won't have to spend winters slumming in a paltry $150,000 Range Rover Autobiography.  

[Frisky Dingo]

Man, haters out thick on this one. 

This vehicle does not appeal  to me in the slightest, but it's  no surprise it's  being built. SUV's are all the rage right now. This  is  RR take on that. This brand has never been about innovation or creativity. It's about excess. This continues that. People will eat it up. 

[A Horse With No Name]

Just now, Frisky Dingo said:

Man, haters out thick on this one. 

This vehicle does not appeal  to me in the slightest, but it's  no surprise it's  being built. SUV's are all the rage right now. This  is  RR take on that. This brand has never been about innovation or creativity. It's about excess. This continues that. People will eat it up. 

Sadly correct...but that does not mean we have to like it!

They essentially built an uglier, more expensive, less competent Lincoln Navigator with nicer materials.

[Frisky Dingo]

Of course we don't have to like it. But acting like this is some kind of surprise or slight against the brand is not a real reasonable position.

[A Horse With No Name]

2 minutes ago, Frisky Dingo said:

Of course we don't have to like it. But acting like this is some kind of surprise or slight against the brand is not a real reasonable position.

I think most of us would just rather see something else from Rolls.