The world’s most luxurious crossover will be
unveiled on May 10th as Rolls-Royce has confirmed the Cullinan will celebrate
its world debut next Thursday at 7:00 am EDT. The company is staying
tight-lipped about specifics but the Cullinan will follow in the footsteps of
the Phantom and adopt a familiar front fascia with a prominent grille that is
flanked by rectangular headlights. The Cullinan also has strong shoulder lines,
suicide rear doors and a dual exhaust system. Rounding out the exterior styling
features are Phantom-like taillights and a tailgate-mounted spoiler.
While the model probably won’t be the most elegant
looking crossover on the market, it should have an ultra-luxurious interior as
previous spy photos have shown there will be premium leather upholstery, wood
trim and metallic accents. The Cullinan will also have a digital instrument
cluster as well as a unique center console with an iDrive-like controller.
One of the Cullinan’s more unique features is the
so-called Viewing Suite. When owners push a button, two leather-wrapped chairs
and a cocktail table will automatically be deployed from the lower section of
the tailgate. The Cullinan will ride on an aluminum spaceframe platform called
the “Architecture of Luxury.” The platform originally debuted on the Phantom
and will eventually underpin all Rolls-Royce models.
Performance specifications remain unconfirmed but
the Cullinan is slated to use the same twin-turbo 6.75-liter V12 engine as the
Phantom. As a result, we can expect the model to have 563 hp and 900 Nm of torque. The engine will likely be paired to an
eight-speed automatic transmission which sends power to a specially-developed
all-wheel drive system.
Since the Cullinan will undoubtedly focus on
comfortable instead of performance, we can expect a Phantom-like air suspension
that makes millions of calculations every second and reacts to steering,
acceleration, and camera inputs.
