Rolls-Royce regulars will witness private debut of Cullinan SUV

Automotive News announced that the loyal customers of Rolls-Royce will be among the first to see the new Cullinan SUV that will be unwrapped behind closed doors. Meanwhile, the general public and the press will have to wait until the latter part of the summer before they can see the much anticipated model for themselves.

If you were not aware, Cullinan is actually just a codename for the automaker’s SUV project. And even if the production version will have a different name, the automaker has yet to inform us what it is. Another thing we noticed is that the automaker refers to the vehicle as a “High Sided Vehicle” instead of an “SUV”.

As you can see in the photos, the Cullinan gets a boxier and more chiseled body, where the front end appears to be very similar to the Phantom. This includes the rectangular LED taillights and the thin intakes underneath them.

When looking at it from the side, you will see why the automaker has called it HSV (or SUV). It actually looks a lot higher than a standard Rolls Royce. Furthermore, it seems like passengers both in the front and in the back will have a lot of headroom, because of its high and flat roof, which also makes it appear chunkier all in all. Moving on to the rear, there is a huge cargo space that could fit in a whole set of your Louis Vuitton luggage.

Moving into the car’s interior, the Cullinan still adopts some of the styling cues of the latest Phantom. With a balance of both traditional and modern, spy shots indicate a conventional instrument display that is partnered with a huge infotainment screen beside it. Similar to that of the large sedan, customers will be free to customize the vehicle’s finishes with a wide selection of woods, upholsteries, and other exotic materials.

When the Cullinan finally reaches its production stage, it will likely share a platform with the newest Rolls Phantom. Under its hood, we expect to see the same biturbo 6.75 liter V12 with 563 horsepower (420 kilowatts) and 664 pound feet (900 Newton-metres) of torque.

The Rolls Royce Cullinan has been spotted a few times in camouflage while going through tests at the Nurburgring, as well as on some roads in California.

When this model finally goes on sale, the automaker aims to push annual vehicle sales past the 5,000-unit mark. That may sound like a lot but it should not be difficult to attain as the demand for SUVs is continuing to rise. In 2016, Rolls Royce was able to deliver a total of 4,011 units of SUVs