It’s been a long time since Rolls-Royce announced that Project Cullinan is go. And it’s been awhile since the world’s premier ultra-luxury marque started teasing the “all-terrain, high-sided vehicle.” The latest installment of the Cullinan video teaser series sees the newcomer head down to arid deserts of the United Arab Emirates.
The clip starts with the camouflaged Cullinan prototype leaving Dubai, heading deep into the desert to play in the dunes. And boy, the full-size luxobarge is capable off the beaten path. More importantly, the rubber equipping the pre-prototype featured in the clip appears to be conventional, not the all-terrain type.
And in a surprising twist for the brand that refuses to use the word “sporty” to describe any of its cars, Rolls-Royce shows the Cullinan drifting at ludicrous angles on the sand. If you listen with utmost attention to the Cullinan’s engine under load, you’ll also notice the sound of twelve cylinders and forced induction.
Like platform brother Phantom, the Cullinan is anticipated to brag with the 6.75-liter twin-turbo V12 of the world’s most luxurious sedan. Based on the N74 engine found in the M760Li xDrive and lesser Rolls-Royce models, the V12 develops 563 horsepower and 900 Nm (664 pound-feet) in the Phantom, with peak torque coming in strong at 1,700 revs. Top speed? That would be 250 km/h (155 mph), thank you!
And similar to the Phantom, the Cullinan will put the ZF 8HP automatic transmission to good use. In regard to differences, the newcomer is shorter than the Phantom and comes as standard with all-wheel-drive, most likely an xDrive system derived from BMWs underpinned by the automaker’s cluster architecture (CLAR).
Although it’s rear-wheel biased, the xDrive in the Cullinan won’t feature selectable RWD as you’ll find the M5. That’s because M xDrive is meant for performance-focused cars, not a supremely luxurious SUV with a higher center of gravity than a sports sedan. When you think about, what sort of Cullinan owner would fancy on-demand RWD?
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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