Luxury travel is now Effortless Everywhere: The New Rolls-Royce Cullinan

The Rolls-Royce Cullinan is Rolls-Royce as it is never seen before. Younger and more adventurous customers have longed for a Rolls-Royce that would bring them off the beaten track and give them life’s most enriching experiences.

For the very first time, the Cullinan has an opening tailgate, known as ‘The Clasp’. Its rear profile has a two-part ‘D-back’. At the touch of the key fob button, the tailgate opens and closes in its two segments automatically.

Its rear passenger seats have also been specially designed to offer the most comfortable seats for the owner’s particular needs, featuring a choice between Lounge Seats and Individual Seats.

The lounge seat configuration allows for three passengers in the rear, a more functional option of the two, and is likely to be more popular as a family car. The rear seats can also be folded down electronically – another first for Rolls-Royce – just with the press of a button in the boot or the rear door pocket.

For owners or families who wish to have a lot more luggage space, the Cullinan provides a large amount of space in various configurations. Its boot has a standard 560 litres of space, increasing up to 600 litres with the removal of the parcel shelf. In addition, since the base of the rear seats are much higher than the floor of the boot, even with both rear seats folded completely, your equipment in the boot will remain in its compartment, unlike those in any other SUVs. Should you wish to carry a longer item, the boot floor can be raised electronically to a length of 2245mm and a load capacity of 1930 litres. Rolls-Royce’s investment in ensuring that the rear seats and the boot space is customised effortlessly and made practical has the advantage of providing a loading length that is longer than a Range Rover Vogue Extended Wheelbase.

Expecting the Rolls-Royce customer to personalise his or her Cullinan, a second rear seat configuration is offered. The Individual Seat configuration is specially crafted for those who value the luxury that the SUV provides over functionality. The two individual rear seats are separated by a Centre Console, which incorporates a drinks cabinet with Rolls-Royce whisky glasses, champagne flutes, decanter, and a refrigerator! The seats can also be adjusted to a number of planes to provide ultimate and luxurious comfort while travelling in the rear.

The first “three-box” SUV has a glass partition that separates the passenger cabin from the luggage space, creating an inner ecosystem for the passengers. Furthermore, the sealed cabin of the glass partition allows passengers to remain cool or warm, even when the luggage compartment is left opened.

At the touch of the unlock button of the Cullinan’s bespoked key, or by simply reaching out to the gorgeous stainless steel door handle, the Cullinan awakes and lowers itself by 40mm to enable effortless entry for drivers and passengers. An electronic door-closing button is found within the sanctuary of the Cullinan’s cabin after drivers and passengers enter the vehicle. Otherwise, a touch on the exterior door sensors will automatically close the door from the outside. When the start button is pushed, the Cullinan then elevates 40mm back to its standard ride height.

The Cullinan is catered specially for drivers with its thicker and smaller steering wheels. Its heated, pliant rim and its ventilated seats would help drivers and passengers to be perfectly acclimatised once they enter the vehicle.

The central information display is now touch-sensitive, another first for the Rolls-Royce. This allows the driver to quickly browse through and select functions, map views, as well as vehicle set-up while on the road. The portal can still be controlled by the iconic spirit of ecstasy controller that nestles on the central console with the Hill Descent Control button, the ‘Off-Road’ button, and the Air Suspension height adjustment controls.

Other cutting-edge technologies include the Cullinan’s Night Vision and Vision Assist that includes day and night Wildlife and Pedestrian warning; Alertness Assistant; a four camera system that offers panoramic view, all-round visibility, and helicopter view; Collision Warning; Active Cruise Control; Cross-Traffic Warning, Lane Change and Lane Departure Warning; a 7x3 High-Resolution Head-Up Display, WiFi hotspot, and the latest entertainment and navigation systems.

Rolls-Royce Pavilion Seating allows rear passengers to take in the most spectacular scenery of their surroundings, along with its large glazed side windows and its panoramic glass roof. Rear passengers can also zero in on their location on the touchscreen map in the rear compartment.

Also, five USB ports are located all around the cabin, allow drivers and passengers to be power-ready at all times. Phones can also be wirelessly charged at the front of the cabin.

Upon arrival at one’s destination, Rolls-Royce has also thought it through to have the front and rear coach doors wrap low under the Cullinan, ensuring that all of the dirt remains outside of the door.

The latest self-levelling air suspension is present to impress drivers and passengers both off-roads and on-roads. A thorough re-engineering of its existing air suspension system also brought about larger air struts with increased capacity of air volume to better cushion the blows of the toughest terrains. This includes strengthening of its drive and prop shafts, and inclusive of drive to the front and back wheels. Its new 6.75 litre twin-turbo V12 engine is reworked to deliver just the right level of torque (850Nm) and at the lowest possible revolutions (1,600rpm).

The Cullinan’s suspension makes millions of calculations every second as it continually vary the electronically controlled shock absorber adjustment system. The control over shear forces and lateral roll to deliver incredible speeds and stability is the result of a new double-wishbone front axle, and its 5-link rear axle.

Off-road driving can be very fun too! The electronically controlled shock absorber adjustment system detects the loss of traction and utilise an air compression system to actively push down the wheel, ensuring that each wheel is consistently in contact with the ground and provide maximum torque to all wheels.

Finally, the ‘Everywhere’ button allows drivers to harness all the technologies and capabilities mentioned for off-road driving.

On the launch of the new Cullinan, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars commented:

“The super-luxury lifestyle is evolving and Rolls-Royce is in the lead. Luxury is no longer an urban concept. More and more it is about embracing and experiencing the wider world. Our customers expect to go everywhere in luxury, effortlessly and without compromise, conquering the most challenging terrain to enjoy life’s most enriching experiences, wherever they may be. For this reason, they have asked us to create a Rolls-Royce that offers uncompromised luxury wherever they dare to venture. Cullinan is that car. It is Effortless, Everywhere.

It is incomparable and dramatically evolves the parameters of super-luxury travel, translating Rolls-Royce’s ethos of ‘Effortlessness’ into physical capability, anywhere in the world. Cullinan will simply take the world in its stride.”

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