Even the world’s most luxurious SUV needs a facelift every now and then. Nearly six years after its debut, the Cullinan is preparing to receive a nip and tuck. New spy shots from Germany show a purple prototype featuring an oddly disguised front end. It doesn’t have the usual camouflage but plastic panels concealing the real front bumper.
The back is even weirder since the Cullinan was carrying around a portable emission measurement system (PEMS) from AIP Automotive. The extra hardware sticking out from the stately SUV is hooked up to the exhaust system to quantify how harmful the venerable V12 engine is to the environment. It’s unclear whether Rolls-Royce wants to extract more power or it’s tweaking the 6.75-liter twin-turbo unit to lower its emissions.
Alongside the Ferrari Purosangue, the Cullinan is among the last twelve-cylinder SUVs considering the Bentayga W12 is dead. The good ol’ days of the AMG G65, Volkswagen Touareg W12, or the Audi Q7 V12 TDI are long gone, not to mention the Lamborghini LM002 from the 1980s. Underneath the stately hood of Rolls-Royce’s SUV is the BMW N74 engine that also goes inside the Phantom and Ghost. It used to power the M760i as well.
Rolls-Royce has pledged to go purely electric by the end of the decade, so the V12’s days are numbered. It means a follow-up to the Cullinan will be an EV, but affluent buyers still have several years left to order the luxobarge with a combustion engine. In its current form, the huge engine makes 591 hp and 664 lb-ft (900 Nm) in the Black Badge variant.
RR models don’t go through the usual Life Cycle Impulse implemented by BMW since the changes are rather minor. The 2025 Cullinan is likely to receive only subtle changes inside and out. The V12 SUV is already in a league of its own, so the formula is unlikely to change significantly.
An official reveal is likely to take place later this year.
Source: skyline.liveries / Instagram
