The New Standard

When the world’s foremost builder of luxury vehicles puts its hand to creating an SUV, the results are spectacular.

- Mark Smyth

IMAGINE for a second driving through a puddle on a gravel road and hearing only the sound of the music streaming from your audio system. Imagine turning the music off and still not hearing the splash as massive 22-inch wheels charge along the wet road. What would it take to create that level of sound insulation; to achieve such an impressive feat of automotive engineering?

Well, a full 100 kg of sound insulation material. And the expertise of Rolls-Royce engineers. We’re talking about the new Cullinan, the ultimate luxury SUV for those who already have other luxury off-road models in their garage but need something with which they won’t get their pants or their dresses dirty.

Seriously, that’s a thing. The Cullinan’s doors curve round the bottom of the sills to make sure that, when you enter or exit the vehicle, you don’t soil the hem of your trousers, even after traversing an off-road track. It’s this attention to detail which sets the Cullinan apart and it’s this kind of thing that you pay many millions for.

Let’s be honest, you aren’t paying for the looks … unless you want your SUV to look like a Rolls-Royce, which the Cullinan does.

Alex Innes of the design team told us they weren’t sure how to approach it when they first began but they went with a traditional high-sided, three-box design for practicality and then gave it Rolls-Royce looks.