Rolls-Royce Cullinan to be revealed today

KUALA LUMPUR: Rolls-Royce will be unveiling the Cullinan today. The first set of images provide detailed glimpses of the all-new Cullinan. It will be the first SUV to be launched by Rolls-Royce.

It is believed that the Cullinan will be an ultra-luxury SUV with tremendous off-road ability. One of the highlighting aspects of the upcoming SUV is its tailgate mounted seats, which highlights the brand logo effectively.

The Cullinan has a Phantom-like appearance which is very much evident from the preview pictures that have been recently released. It has identical front fascia and D-shaped lights at the back. The boxy layout helps to distinguish the design from that of a smooth-looking Ghost. The rear doors are hinged on the rear which is again an attribute of the Phantom and not the Ghost.

This car is being launched as a competition to the Bentley Bentagya. During its initial stages of development, Rolls-Royce called the entire development ‘Project Cullinan’. The name was picked from the famous Cullinan Diamond which was a 3106-carat piece extracted from a mine in South Africa in the year 1905. It was broken down into nine stones. The two best ones were used in the Sovereign’s Sceptre and the British imperial crown.

Torsten Muller Otvos, the head of Rolls Royce, believes that it is the most befitting name for the model. This particular model of Rolls-Royce is believed to be more of a ‘high-sided vehicle’. It can be used as a modified version of the Phantom V12 6.8-litre engine. At a later stage, it is also being contemplated to offer a plug-in hybrid powertrain that uses the technology from BMW, the parent company of Rolls-Royce. The diesel option has already been dismissed by Rolls-Royce due to the low scope of refinement.

After the huge success of the Rolls-Royce Phantom in Malaysia, it will be interesting to see how the biggest bet of the company fares in the Malaysian market. Predictions suggest that the Cullinan might be the strongest-selling model of the British luxury automobile maker in the recent years.