The first Rolls-Royce Cullinan SUVs hit the highways in Bahrain last week, wowing motorists and car enthusiasts who had a glimpse of the new king of roads.

The ‘Rolls-Royce of SUVs’, as the company would like to call it, was offered to selected journalists and social media influencers to experience first-hand the power and performance of Cullinan.

Cullinan, named after the largest diamond ever discovered which now resides in the British Crown Jewels, is an all-terrain high-bodied car that makes the idea of authentic, luxury off-road travel a reality for the first time.

Rolls-Royce Cullinan is available for Bespoke Commission at any Rolls-Royce Motor Cars authorised dealer. First deliveries of Cullinan have just begun and will reach full pace in early 2019.

In Bahrain, Cullinan is offered by Euro Motors, a leading luxury cars dealership. It is now on display at the Rolls-Royce Bahrain showroom.

Delivery of Cullinans will start in the kingdom in the first quarter of 2019, says Rashid Al Zayani, Rolls-Royce Marketing Manager, Euro Motors. The luxury SUV will be priced from BD170,000.

Effortless, everywhere

Effortless, everywhere is the promise Rolls-Royce makes with the Cullinan and as the SUV moved majestically around Manama, negotiating curves and crowded traffic sometimes, the conscious driver exclaimed: “it’s so smooth”.

“History set our precedent, and today Rolls-Royce answers its call to action,” comments Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. “Our answer to the visionaries, adventurers, explorers and those who believe in the supremacy of liberty is the Rolls-Royce Cullinan.

“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,” he continues.

“Cullinan is luxury in its purest form blended with perfect practicality and off-road capability,” comments Müller-Ötvös. “Effortless, Everywhere is not just the promise behind Cullinan. It’s the fact.”

Created using the newly revealed ‘Architecture of Luxury’, Cullinan offers Rolls-Royce patrons extraordinary new opportunities to bespoke their commission.

Cullinan awakes at the touch of the unlock button on the Bespoke key, or indeed by simply reaching out to its door handle. It lowers itself by 40mm to make entry effortless as the iconic Rolls-Royce coach doors stand open to welcome driver and passengers. There are buttons to effortlessly close the doors.

A touch of the start button then elevates Cullinan 40mm to its standard ride height, placing the occupants in the perfect position from which to see the world as it drives off.

Cullinan is a driver’s car thanks to its thicker, smaller steering wheel and user-friendly equipment and technology that are clearly seen and reached by the driver. All information is communicated by the latest generation of digital instruments.

The central information screen is for the first time touch sensitive, allowing the driver to quickly select functions, map views and vehicle set-up while on the trail. This portal can still be controlled from the iconic Spirit of Ecstasy controller which nestles on the central console with the ‘Off-Road’ button, Hill Descent Control button and Air Suspension height adjustment controls.

For those not behind the wheel, the world’s most spectacular scenery is to be seen from a privileged position. Those in the rear sit higher than those in the front of the car on Rolls-Royce’s Pavilion Seating, enjoying grandstand views of their surroundings thanks to the large glazed area of Cullinan’s side windows and industry-leading panoramic glass roof.

Cullinan at a glance

• Cullinan’s contemporary and functional design ensures it gains iconic status;

• The first “three-box” car in the SUV-sector. Cullinan’s rear partition wall creates a distinct environment for passengers, separated from the luggage compartment.

• The most practical of Rolls-Royces. Cullinan is the most versatile, family oriented, fun-to-drive super-luxury SUV available today, says the company;

• The second new Rolls-Royce to sit on the all-new aluminium ‘Architecture of Luxury’, Cullinan is the most technologically advanced, and only purpose-built, luxury SUV in the world;

• Tested to destruction all over the planet, Cullinan is an incredibly capable off-roader that sees the development of the ‘Magic Carpet Ride’ for off-road enjoyment, without sacrificing any Rolls-Royce on-road behavior;

• Cullinan offers a suite of bespoke features developed specifically for the many various lifestyles of its owners including the Viewing Suite and the Recreation Module;

• The 6.75 litre twin-turbo V12 Rolls-Royce engine delivers 563bhp/420kW and 850Nm/627lb ft of torque to the all-new all-wheel drive, all-wheel steer system needed to overcome any challenge.

• A host of cutting-edge technology makes Rolls-Royce Cullinan the most technologically advanced car of its type in the world. These include: Night Vision and Vision Assist including daytime and night-time Wildlife & Pedestrian warning; Alertness Assistant; a 4-Camera system with Panoramic View, all-round visibility and helicopter view; Active Cruise Control; Collision Warning; Cross-Traffic Warning, Lane Departure and Lane Change Warning; an industry leading 7x3 High-Resolution Head-Up Display, WiFi hotspot, and of course the latest Navigation and Entertainment Systems.

The most obvious sign of Rolls-Royce’s new approach to SUV is the radical rear of Cullinan. For the first time a Rolls-Royce has an opening tailgate, called ‘The Clasp’. In a nod to the era when luggage was mounted on the exterior of the motor-car, so the occupants did not travel with their belongings, the rear profile of Cullinan is a two-part, ‘D-Back’ format, with the bustle denoting the place of the luggage. ‘The Clasp’ opens and closes in its two sections automatically at the touch of the key fob button.

The rear passenger compartment of Cullinan has been designed to offer the best seat in the house for the owner’s particular needs. Two rear configurations are offered – Lounge Seats or Individual Seats.

The Lounge Seat configuration is the more functional of the two options. With space for three passengers in the rear, it will likely be more attractive to families. The rear seats also fold down – a first for Rolls-Royce.

The seats fold electronically in a number of configurations by pressing the appropriate button in the boot or rear door pocket. For those who intend to transport large items back from their adventures, the rear of Cullinan offers a large amount of space in different arrangements.

Knowing that the Rolls-Royce customer expects to bespoke his or her Cullinan, a second rear configuration is offered. The Individual Seat configuration is for those who value the ultimate luxury an SUV can offer over practicality. The two individual rear seats are separated by a fixed rear centre console incorporating a drinks cabinet. The seats also move in a number of planes to offer ultimate comfort whilst travelling in the rear.

Another key feature brings Rolls-Royce’s ultimate level of luxury to this configuration of Cullinan, creating the first truly “three-box” SUV. A glass partition isolates the passenger cabin from the luggage compartment, creating an inner ecosystem for the occupants. In addition to enhanced and class-leading silence within the cabin, a further benefit becomes clear in the hottest and coldest of environments. Thanks to the sealed cabin created by the glass partition wall, the occupants can remain in the optimum temperature even when the luggage compartment stands open.

An interesting feature in Cullinan is the two electrically operated seats which are mounted inside the boot and can be deployed once the boot lid is open. The seats come out of the car, accompanied by a tray. Now you can say cheers, seated, in the wild!

Authentic Rolls-Royce engineering

Key to the creation of the Rolls-Royce Cullinan SUV was the Architecture of Luxury – Rolls-Royce’s proprietary all-aluminium architecture.

It was designed and engineered from the ground up in such a way as to be scalable to the size and weight requirements of different future Rolls-Royce models, including those with different propulsion, traction and control systems, thus underpinning the long-term future product roadmap.

Cullinan uses this new architecture in a wholly different manner to deliver an iconic design and presence, uncompromised comfort, space and usability, cutting-edge technology and the peerless on-road and off-road driving experience and capability.

The component parts of the base architecture were reconfigured into a spaceframe that was higher and shorter whilst also delivering a completely new feature never seen before on a series production Rolls-Royce – a tailgate.

The all-new aluminium sub-structure delivers extraordinary car body stiffness for exceptional 'best-in-class' functional performance on rough terrain whilst offering better ride comfort.

The ‘Magic Carpet Ride’ taken off-road

The integration of new technologies into the architecture was also key to ensuring the fundamental quality of Cullinan as Effortless, Everywhere. The engineering team began by creating a drivetrain that would bring Rolls-Royce’s famous ‘Magic Carpet Ride’ off-road.

“The drivetrain system we engineered for Cullinan had one key job to do,” explains Caroline Krismer, Engineering Project Leader for Cullinan. “To bring the famed Rolls-Royce ‘Magic Carpet Ride’ to all other terrains possible, while ensuring class-leading on-road behaviour in the SUV sector.”

Rolls-Royce’s celebrated Magic Carpet Ride impresses off-road as well as on-road thanks to the new lighter architecture, and the latest generation of self-levelling air suspension.