Rolls Royce plans Sport Utility Vehicle

While Coscharis Motors is still fine tuning strategies to commence full distributorship business of the luxury marquee, latest information has revealed that the development of the Rolls-Royce sport utility vehicle (SUV) has been started by the British-based car manufacturer.

According to a company source, the Rolls-Royce SUV has not been abandoned, as market watchers might have believed, and considering the fact that its main competitor, Bentley, is considering such a model too, the development of the vehicle has started. The announcement has not been made official just yet, but according to a recent report, work has begun on the model.

The new Rolls-Royce SUV, known internally as the Cullinan, which is the name of the world’s largest diamond, will be sitting between the Ghost and the Phantom in the company’s line-up and, when it will eventually receive its final tick for production, it is believed to have a starting price of approximately 200,000 pounds.

The new Rolls-Royce SUV will be powered by a V12 engine and the company will also offer a “greener” version, in the shape of a plug-in hybrid. However, this is just a report for the moment and no official confirmation. The Rolls-Royce Cullinan is expected to arrive, in its final form, in late 2017.

Recall that prior to this development, the British ultra-luxury carmaker had announced that it was getting closer to deciding on whether to build a SUV as hinted by the CEO Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes to Reuters Insider television.

When asked if such a vehicle would be feasible, Mueller-Oetvoes said: “It’s a very interesting segment, definitely, and we are thinking about it. There are no firm plans. We are playing with some drawings and we are starting now to look even deeper into the whole thing. A decision will only be done if we are convinced that this fits to the brand. It needs clever thinking.”

During that period, he had announced to the enthusiastic audience that Rolls-Royce by tradition was not sporty or utility, adding that the carmaker must think what kind of character such a car would have and what it would look like.

The news that Rolls-Royce is such a vehicle is coming after Bentley, the main competitor, has already announced that they will start selling a SUV model in 2016.

Bentley plans to sell about 3,000 – 4,000 SUVs a year at a starting price of between $140,000 and $180,000. The company has already 2000 pre-orders for the SUV model. In 2013, Bentley sold 10,120 vehicles worldwide, while Rolls Royce 3,630 vehicles.

Mike Ochonma