An incredible automobile is like a great painting, as you gaze at it, it looks like it comes together in slow motion. The same could be said for the much-anticipated SUV from Rolls-Royce: the Cullinan. Taxonomists at the company have chosen to name their latest creation a “high-sided vehicle,” height being one of its main attributes, forgoing the term “SUV.”
This Rolls-Royce is far more substantial than the Phantom, making this high-sided vehicle the largest Rolls-Royce ever. This is Rolls-Royce’s answer to the current demand for a high-performance SUV, though the marque typically doesn’t manufacture vehicles this large.
Cullinan refers to the biggest gem-quality rough diamond ever discovered, a 3,106 carat gem from a South African mine in 1905. Sir Thomas Cullinan owned the mine at the time, and his eponymous stone was bigger than two packs of gum stacked atop one another. It was finally cut into nine beautiful stones, the largest two of which are scripted into the British Imperial Crown and the Sovereign’s Scepter with Cross.
What makes the Rolls-Royce Cullinan unique is its new and rare aluminum space-frame architecture that the company calls “Architecture of Luxury.” Basically what this means is that a stronger, lighter chassis, the design and construction can be efficiently adapted to the specific requirements of single models. The SUV is expected to be powered by a 12-cylinder engine, and this, along with the latest edition of the Phantom and other Rolls-Royce cars, will be built at the Goodwood plant in West Sussex, England.
The brand new Rolls Royce Cullin is expected to be available in late 2018 or early 2019, and its asking price is will start around $750,000.
