A Diamond Among Gems

The Rolls-Royce Cullinan

- Nick Kurczewski

Take Montana’s “Big Sky” country, sprinkle in lots of cows and plenty of snow, and add a $325,000 Rolls-Royce Cullinan SUV into this unlikely recipe for a testdrive. The result turns out be a breathtaking backdrop for the world’s most expensive sport-utility.

The Cullinan’s eye-opening price should automatically wear an asterisk, because it’s only the starting point for one of the most exclusive automotive ownership experiences. The model we spent most of our time driving had a price tag of more than $400,000; we’ll get to how and why in just a moment, don’t be impatient.

This first encounter with the mighty Cullinan was spent traversing wind-swept and increasingly snow-covered country roads surrounding Philipsburg, Montana: population 900. Needless to say, cows handily outnumber human inhabitants in this neck of the woods.

But why place the ideal Rodeo Drive shopping-spree SUV in such a jeans-and-flannel atmosphere? Let’s not forget, the Cullinan also happens to be named after a baseball-sized diamond, the largest gem-quality stone ever discovered. That’s about the biggest mic-drop name you can put onto a vehicle!

The goal, according to Rolls-Royce, was to showcase the brand’s newfound capability of meeting the needs of more active clientele. So if you’re a Rolls-Royce owner who prefers outdoor adventures that entail more than simply transporting a pedigreed Pekingese to the park, this is the SUV for you.