Rolls-Royce presents Cullinan Series II: A bold evolution of the world’s pre-eminent super-luxury SUV
“In 2018, Cullinan reframed super-luxury motoring, enabling RollsRoyce clients to experience the brand’s hallmark magic carpet ride regardless of the terrain and in every corner of the world. In the six years since, Cullinan has attracted entirely new groups of clients to Rolls-Royce and profoundly altered perceptions of what a Rolls-Royce motor car is, and what it can mean to its owner. Cullinan Series II has been created to build on that success. By integrating new technologies, new materials, meticulously considered design updates and innovative opportunities for selfexpression through Bespoke, we retain everything our clients love about this motor car, ensuring its continued allure.” Chris Brownridge, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
“Since the launch of the first Goodwoodbuilt Rolls-Royce, designers have taken great care to give every model its own distinctive aesthetic universe. Each is based on detailed insights gathered directly from our clients before the motor car is conceived, and throughout its life. Cullinan Series II is born of this approach: more energetic, focussed and expressive, in line with the priorities of today’s super-luxury consumers. In its new guise, Cullinan Series II remains effortless, everywhere – faithful to the principles and retaining the qualities that have made this motor car so successful. At the same time, it represents genuine progress and development, based on an evolved appreciation of luxury that adds statement and flourish to Cullinan’s original form.”
Anders Warming, Director of Design, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
The original Cullinan, launched in 2018, was the world’s first super-luxury SUV, fulfilling a unique and exacting brief. From a performance and engineering standpoint, it had to have genuine off-road capabilities equal to the most demanding and hostile environments on Earth. At the same time, it had to deliver the marque’s peerless comfort and signature ‘magic carpet ride’, regardless of the terrain. It had to be nothing less than the definitive super-luxury SUV – rugged yet refined, unstoppable yet serene: effortless, everywhere. Its success exceeded RollsRoyce’s most ambitious expectations around the world, and today Cullinan is the most requested Rolls-Royce in the marque’s portfolio.
Given the motor car’s extraordinary success, and incredibly positive reception from clients in every region of the world, shaping a new expression of the ‘RollsRoyce of SUVs’ was undertaken with meticulous care. The marque’s designers, engineers and craftspeople drew on half a decade of detailed client feedback, the brand’s own intelligence gathering – including our Private Offices around the world – and a raft of new technologies to advance Cullinan. In its new guise, which represents the most extensive Series II development in Rolls-Royce history, it responds to changing codes of luxury and evolving usage patterns while remaining true to the essential qualities that underpin Cullinan’s unprecedented popularity.
Commanding the urban space
Since the first client deliveries, Cullinan fulfilled its purpose as a supremely accomplished off-road motor car, capable of taking its owner into locations never previously explored in a RollsRoyce. However, versatility and the effortless everywhere essence of the model also made Cullinan a ‘daily driver’ for many owners; indeed, numerous clients have told Rolls-Royce that no other SUV offers the same effortless performance as Cullinan’s 6.75-litre V12 engine, from what is often a substantial and diverse collection. These were all significant considerations in conceiving Cullinan Series II.
It was noted by the marque’s intelligence specialists that an increasing number of Rolls-Royce clients were concentrated in urban areas – from great world metropolises to fast-growth cities in emerging regions. To that end, Cullinan increasingly serves as a super-luxury product in which clients wish to be seen and project their character – albeit with the capacity to vanish into nature at will. Specialists also observed a shift towards owners driving their motor cars themselves. When Cullinan was first launched, less than 70% were selfdriven: today, almost every Cullinan is driven by its owner, with less than 10% of clients retaining the services of a chauffeur. Together with the rejuvenation of the brand and the ever-increasing Bespoke offering, Cullinan contributed to a fall in the average age of RollsRoyce clients from 56 in 2010 to just 43 today.
Cullinan Series II: Exterior
An increasingly urban focus, a youthful cadre of clients and a decisive shift towards self-driving informs the surface treatment and detail of Cullinan Series II’s exterior. A key theme is verticality, which echoes illuminated skyscrapers in the megacities where Cullinan is increasingly at home. This is most apparent in the new lamp treatment, where tall daytime running light graphics ensure Cullinan Series II is easily identified, day and night.
The front of Cullinan Series II is composed of simple feature lines and crisp edges, with an emphasis on clean, monolithic surfaces that amplify the motor car’s generous proportions and presence. The bumper lines form a shallow ‘V’ from the lowest point of the daytime running lights to the motor car’s centre point, recalling the sharp bow lines of modern sports yachts. Underneath, new air intakes angle outwards assertively, visually lowering the motor car when viewed head on.
The centrepiece is the illuminated pantheon grille. This is the first time that Cullinan has been provisioned with an illuminated grille, which has been further refreshed with a lower leading edge. It also incorporates a new polished horizontal ‘horizon line’ between the daytime running lights, providing a clear visual link to the marque’s pinnacle product, Phantom Series II.
In profile, Cullinan Series II reveals further changes to the surfacing. While the front wings retain their sheer, vertical lines, the marque’s designers added a restrained yet precise feature line leading from the taillight forwards to the centre of the floating ‘RR’ centre caps on the rear wheel. This creates a subtle taper and impression of movement, further amplified by the updated lower valance surfaces, which lift at the rear. They are presented in a rich high-gloss black, which reflects the road below, creating a sense of motion on these fixed forms. Viewed from behind, the exhaust treatment of Cullinan Series II is a bold statement of power – each surround is presented in mirror-finish stainless steel, cleanly integrated and visually flush to the body. Changes at the rear conclude with a brushed stainless-steel protective plate running between the exhausts, which flows underneath the motor car. Resolving this younger and more expressive evolution of Cullinan’s styling are upsized 23-inch wheels – the first time that 23-inch wheels have been made available by the marque for Cullinan. Each wheel is milled from a billet of aluminium, and the three-dimensional and faceted seven-spoke design is available in a part or fully polished finish.