There’s no mystery Rolls-Royce is working on the mother and father of all SUVs. Or as the British ultra-luxury manufacturer calls the full-size palace on wheels, an “all-terrain, high-sided vehicle.” Scheduled to arrive in 2018 for the 2019 model year, the Cullinan has been recently caught off-guard in Germany.
The spy video at the end of the story starts with the Cullinan prototype leaving a garage and heading for the Nurburgring Nordschleife, followed closely by two examples of the G29 Z4 and the production-ready G05 X5. Starting with the latter, the next-generation X5 borrows many styling cues from the G01 X3 and looks absolutely massive despite the fact the X7 flagship is in the pipeline.
As for the pair of Z4s, both sports cars sound as if they’re powered by the B48 four-cylinder engine found in models ranging from the BMW 120i to the 730i and 740e iPerformance. The Phantom on stilts, meanwhile, produces a muted V12 sound as it winds up. Thus, it’s most likely the Cullinan hides the 6.75-liter twin-turbo variant of the BMW N74 under the gigantic, squared-off hood.
Even though the full-LED headlights, front bumper, and side profile appear to be just about ready for production, there’s still work to be done at the rear. For a brief moment, you’ll be able to notice the Cullinan boasts a shark-fin antenna on the roof, which resembles the one found on the eighth-generation Phantom.
Just like the upright grille, the 2019 Rolls-Royce Cullinan features coach doors (a.k.a. suicide doors), confirming that it’s worthy of bearing the Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament up front. From the profile, it’s also evident that the Goodwood-based company’s first-ever SUV is shorter than the Phantom VIII.
While it may promise all-terrain capability, make no mistake about the fact the Cullinan feels more at home on the road. So much testing on the Nurburgring and Dynamic Performance Control torque vectoring can only do so much for a heavyweight such as the Cullinan, but all things considered, the honkin’ great SUV is certain to get the Bentley Bentayga off its high horse.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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