Rolls-Royce will show off their SUV in front of
potential customers during multiple “closed-room” events starting this summer.
Codenamed Cullinan, the SUV is expected to push the British luxury car maker’s
annual sales figures past 5,000 units per year. In 2016, Rolls-Royce sold 4,011
cars, only to see sales dip by 16% to 3,362 units last year, as reported by
Autonews.
Unlike other luxury SUVs, the Cullinan’s platform is
unique to the brand. Company CEO Torsten Mueller-Oetvos even stated that they
won’t be “using mass-manufactured body shells,” because it “undermines
exclusivity massively.”
In other words, Rolls-Royce knows that their
customers aren’t looking to get the same deal Bentley Benteyga owners got –
namely how the Bentayga uses the same VW Group platform as the Audi Q7, Porsche
Cayenne and Lamborghini Urus.
Rolls-Royce will unveil the SUV publicly in late
summer, while sales will commence towards the end of the year. As for first
deliveries, we’ll have to wait for the beginning of 2019, as per reports.
Whether it will be called the Cullinan or not, the Rolls-Royce SUV is expected
to utilize the same twin turbo V12 power unit found in the latest-generation
Phantom. That would give it 571 PS and 900 Nm of torque.
