Just like Volkswagen’s Bentley and Audi’s Lamborghini, BMW’s Rolls-Royce is entering the premium SUV game, ready to ferry oil-rich princes and the hardest of Wall Street’s power lords to their appointed rounds.
Autobild reports the premium SUV — currently dubbed the Cullinan, whose namesake comes from the 3,000-carat diamond — will debut in 2018, and will be priced between the Ghost and the Phantom at €275,000 ($340,000 USD).
Power for the aluminum SUV is expected to come from 6.6-liter V12, which may be directed through the all-wheel drive system found in the BMW 7 Series to the wheel/tire combo from the upcoming X7. A PHEV variant of the Cullinan is also in consideration.
As for where the SUV will turn up, the United States and the Middle East are potential markets.
A Bentley SUV? Sure. But I don’t think an SUV is really befitting of the Rolls-Royce heritage. I honestly think Rolls-Royce would do much better with an estate (wagon)…maybe one based on the Ghost/Wraith pictured above. I like SUVs as much as the next (non-TTAC-commenting) person, but there’s something especially classy about opulent wagons.
Or a shooting brake…
Huh. Maybe. Now that they’ve done the a fastback design with the Wraith—something I thought they’d never be able to pull off given all the upright lines on the Phantom Coupé—I wouldn’t put it past the folks at Rolls-Royce to design a handsome shooting brake.
New money wants the badge. They aren’t much concerned about the details which made the badge revered by earlier generations.
Nah, it’s a head of state car and needs some free space above IED/mines.
About damned time. Now they just need a pickup truck.
Lol! You win this thread.
“Lol! You win this thread.”
Not by a long way….
There have been many, many RR pick-ups over the years – some of them were like that from new:
http://www.pbase.com/keithcollicoat/image/113164860
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_6QDgIabT-gQ/TENwEV8hgpI/AAAAAAAAJA8/BSe5eABe0Y8/IMG_3928.jpg
and of course pick-ups don’t come much more hard-core than this….
http://www.marqueart.com/marqueart/pictures/background/background_sp11_armoured_car/sv4996_rightfront.jpg
Isn’t basically every Rolls built in the last ~10 years already an SUV in all but name and ground clearance? And LOL at the wagon fanboi dweebs who think Rolls should make a wagon; Rolls owners already have a “Wagon”, it’s called a Range Rover.
Ettore Bugatti once derisively sniffed: “Monsieur Bentley builds the fastest trucks in the world.” (Describing Bentley designs compared to his elegant autos) But I think that current Rolls would fit that description.
Ettore Bugatti was a knob – Contemporary Bentleys were far better engineered and more sophisticated than Bugs.
I’ll never forget Bugatti’s approach to customer service. A customer once called him to complain that his car was hard to start in cold weather. Bugatti’s response?
“Sir, if you can afford a Bugatti I assume that you can afford a heated garage to put it in.”
The rich just love to be treated like poop, it’s so novel
>> The rich just love to be treated like poop, it’s so novel
It’s the personal assistant that has to make the call and deal with the problem. The owner won’t even know about the issue if the assistant is doing their job right. If the dog needs to take a crap, it’s the assistant that takes the dog for the walk and picks up the deposit. I sort-of run around in those circles (not a billionaire myself, but know some well) and see how it works first hand. The very rich are good at putting a layer between themselves and everyday problems.
… they can afford it, that assistant is probably pulling down 150K to be that “layer”
“Sir, if you can afford a Bugatti I assume that you can afford a heated garage to put it in.”
Which sort of explains why they went out of business.
Bugatti’s out of business? Does VW know?
When I was a kid, Rolls Royces were attractive and classy cars.
Every single Rolls I’ve seen in the last ten years (they are not uncommon in my neck of the woods) is tacky and tasteless.
And you should leave the word “classy” back with your childhood.
Why?
We’re entering a period of class rigidity that will rival anything Europeans ever endured.
Oh I was more commenting on how uncouth the use of that word is.
Freedom of expression so long as it’s not name calling, I sez.
That’s how to be a classy guy.
+1. “Classy” is just about as definitive as “sporty”.
And if you heard someone say “sporty” would you rear back, fling aside your cape and thrust an oaken arm at the guy crying:
“Thou hast profaned! Thou art Uncouthe in the Eyes of the Lorde” ?
Anything the word “classy” is connected to usually isn’t. As in…
“That’s a pretty classy girl you picked-up at the bar last night, I saw wandering around your fancy double-wide this morning”
Oh, and that goes for the word “fancy” as well
Thanks for that.
I honestly haven’t found them particularly classy since, like, the 50s.
They used to be old school throwbacks. Which did lend them an aura of “I’ve been rich for so long I learned to appreciate leather-and-wool body on ancient frame vehicles before you whippersnappers culd even afford a pack of gum……”
The old Caddy Fleetwood always appealed more to me than any contemporary RR. More “I’ve got an oil well” than “I’ve got a title.” It rode better as well. I have to admit lambs wool is nicer than plastic, though, no matter how wedded one may be to the petroleum industry.
Agree.. it’s all about projecting the attitude that modernity is for commoners. Because they can’t surmount the forces that demand it.
“When I was a kid, Rolls Royces were attractive and classy cars.
Every single Rolls I’ve seen in the last ten years (they are not uncommon in my neck of the woods) is tacky and tasteless.”
I think your memories are very unreliable…very few Rolls Royces of any era could even remotely be considered classy. Such is the nature of the beast that on the scale of classiness that ranges from Her Majesty at one end to Liberace at the other most RR buyers tend to have tastes that are nearer the latter.
It took me over of year of intensive looking to purchase a Silver Shadow II that was in decent nick and wasn’t in some obscenely gaudy colour/trim combination with gold plated brightwork.
Many of you don’t understand how difficult it is for rich people to own a good SUV when the largest, most powerful on the market is the $90,000 Escalade.
But what if I don’t want “GM-Quality” and I need one adorned with pillows crafted from the feathers of rare bird species and plated in precious metals?
WHO, I say, WHO will build the Ultimate strokejob for the filthy rich?
When’s the Bugatti Galiber coming?
I am certain the AMG G-Class and some Range Rover variants cost MORE than the Escalade (while being more powerful). As well as a fully-optioned LX.
Yeah, Corey, but WHO in their right mind wants to navigate around town in a G-Class?
Have fun steering that thing around, AMG or not, although I’m sure its at least a touch more comfortable wheeling about town in than- say- the very tractor-esque Defender.
By the way, if I have to see another LX___ in charcoal gray, I will simply have to ignore their existence altogether.
Often times steering is not at the top of the list for rich people wanting to spend MORE than 90K on their SUV. :)
Screw all that, I’m with Lewis Black on what to do with the $$$. Ball Washer FTW. “You bought a YACHT?!”
G-Class has a stupid tailgate that swings sideways. That’s no fun.
That’s what Sbarro is for.
No, not the pizza place — Franco.
ahem*China*ahem
Those wheels do not work on the Rolls coupe pictured. They are too sporty and not dignified.
I actually dig them, considering it’s RR’s sportiest model. The Phantom Coupé does the dignified thing, even if it comes off as a bit gaudy.
The Wraith kinda makes me wish Chrysler would make a 300C coupe.
“Stately personal luxury is not sport! Lincoln taught us this very well.”
-Alfred Broughamhampton III
5 spokes is never the wrong number of spokes.
Agree, as long as they come correct and are fat.
http://img.pistonheads.com.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/Fullsize/rolls-royce/wraith/rolls-royce-wraith-S1053362-1.jpg
Surely has no coincidence with the recent murmurs about BMW finally pulling the trigger on an X7…
I want to see a true Teutonic Suburban challenger – the X5 has always matched up better against the short-body-on-frame comparisons, but it falls apart when you compare it to the full-size’ers.
I also think the current Rolls front end would look much better at chest level than the Bentley ridiculousness they showed last year.
Why, thet’s the finest ’49 Pontiac Stdeamliner I ever did see.
estate-wagon , shooting-brake ? – what are you talking about ?:)
SUV from RR (big & lux) is not such a bad idea like SUV from ‘sportier’ Bentley (still big-lux)..
But SUV from Maserati, Alfa or Lambo is pure nouveau-riche indulging excersize ..
Ferrari is next..
.. and don’t forget you should blame Por$che for this $ellout ..
…
.. and don’t forget that more ‘cool cars’ for Wall-Street-golden-boys means less .. poor Chevys (and rather Sparks/Cruzes than Corvettes..) for you ..
…
and yes, Chrysler should build a 300C coupe … and cabrio ..
estate-wagon , shooting-brake ? – what are you talking about ?:)
SUV from RR (big & lux) is not such a bad idea like SUV from ‘sportier’ Bentley (still big-lux)..
But SUV from Maserati, Alfa or Lambo would be a pure $ellout and nouveau-riche indulging excersize ..
Ferrari is next..
.. and don’t forget you should blame Por$che for this $ellout ..
…
[.. and don’t forget that more ‘cool cars’ for Wall-Street-golden-boys means less .. poor Chevys (and rather Sparks/Cruzes than Corvettes..) for you .. ]
…
[ and yes, Chrysler should build a 300C coupe … and cabrio.. ]
I’m just glad to know the Phantom will remain at the top of the price ladder. That way all the people that buy these will still have to deal with an inferiority complex from everyone knowing the guy in the Phantom spent more $ on his car.
2018? *sigh* Then I guess a Bentley SUV will have to do, because I just can’t wait until 2018
“Autobild reports the premium SUV — currently dubbed the Cullinan, whose namesake comes from the 3,000-carat diamond — will debut in 2018…”
Ehose namesake _is_, or whose _name_ comes.