Rolls-Royce Cullinan
Super-luxury SUV · 2018–present. This review has not established this model’s 2024 U.S. sales.
How it began
It was created by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, a British company wholly owned by the BMW Group and a legally separate company from Rolls-Royce plc. At launch, the chief executive was Torsten Müller-Ötvös, the design director was Giles Taylor and the engineering project leader was Caroline Krismer. The 2024 Series II arrived with Chris Brownridge as chief executive and Anders Warming as director of design.
It was designed and is built at Goodwood, near Chichester in West Sussex, England. Rolls-Royce began operating there on January 1, 2003, and it is the brand's production plant for the whole world, so every Cullinan sold in the United States comes from Goodwood. The January 2025 release described capacity of up to 28 cars a day; at that date the brand announced an investment of more than 300 million pounds to extend it.
Rolls-Royce revealed it on May 10, 2018, as a 2019 model. By August 2019, 2019-model Cullinans were already on U.S. roads, as NHTSA recalls from that year show.
It is named after the Cullinan Diamond, found in 1905 at the then Premier Mine, now Cullinan, in South Africa. It weighed 3,106 carats uncut and is the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found. It was cut into nine major stones and other smaller gems; the inspected sources disagree on the exact discovery day and smaller-stone count. Cullinan I, at 530.2 carats, sits in the Sovereign’s Sceptre with Cross, and Cullinan II shines at the front of the Imperial State Crown, among the British Crown Jewels.
Rolls-Royce said it chose to wait for the luxury SUV concept to mature. Fortune’s June 2019 feature described the success of Bentley, Lamborghini and Maserati but still placed the Aston Martin DBX in the future: Aston Martin unveiled its first SUV in November 2019 and began deliveries in July 2020. Giles Taylor said the team did not set out to build "an SUV" but to bring Rolls-Royce luxury to a high-bodied vehicle. The goal was unbounded access in ultimate luxury: taking owners to the ends of the Earth with the usual comfort. The stakes were real: a spokesman warned that a misstep could cut sales from about 4,000 to about 1,000 a year.
Generation by generation
- Gen. 12018–2024 · Cullinan
The first Rolls-Royce SUV
Photo: Mr.choppers · CC BY-SA 3.0 What changed. It was the brand's first high-bodied vehicle and the first Rolls-Royce with all-wheel drive, with a nominal 50/50 split between the axles. It uses an evolved version of the Phantom's Architecture of Luxury, a modular aluminum spaceframe reshaped to sit higher and shorter. It has a 6.75-liter twin-turbo V12 with 563 hp and 627 lb-ft from 1,600 rpm, a ZF eight-speed automatic, four-wheel steering and self-leveling air suspension. The Black Badge Cullinan, the darker and more powerful version, arrived in November 2019. The approximately $325,000 U.S. starting price belonged to the base Cullinan introduced in 2018, rather than the later Black Badge.
The innovation. The optional Viewing Suite: a module in the trunk holds two folding, leather-covered rear-facing seats and a cocktail table, so you can sit and take in the view from the back of the car. It can also wade through water up to 540 mm deep, and a button called Everywhere switches on the rough-road mode.
If you buy one usedNHTSA lists these recalls: 19V612000 (2019) for brake lights that might not be bright enough, fixed with a software update; 19V684000 (2019) because the backup camera could be set so it showed no image; 21V554000 (2021) for a passenger seat-belt Automatic Locking Retractor child-restraint mode that could deactivate too early; and 26V143000 (March 2026), covering 2020 to 2026 models, for rear-seat bolts that may not have been tightened properly and could damage the belt or let the backrest move. For that last one, NHTSA says not to use the rear seats or the luggage compartment until the dealer completes the free repair. Before you buy, check the VIN at nhtsa.gov. - Gen. 22024–present · Series II
More expressive, same V12
Photo: This picture has been taken by Oleg Yunakov. Contact e-mail: yunakovgmail.com. Image can be used in accordance with the · CC BY-SA 4.0 What changed. Rolls-Royce revealed it on May 7, 2024, as an evolution rather than a new model: the 6.75-liter V12, the eight-speed gearbox and all-wheel drive are unchanged. Outside it gets tall L-shaped daytime lights, an illuminated Pantheon grille for the first time and a new rear feature line, plus 23-inch wheels, another first for the Cullinan. Inside it introduces a glass panel across the dashboard with a fixed central display, a new Spirit of Ecstasy clock cabinet, an 18-speaker sound system and materials such as a rayon fabric made from bamboo. The Black Badge Cullinan Series II preserves its 600 PS and 900 Nm, above the standard model; PS denotes metric horsepower rather than SAE hp.
The innovation. It is the first V12 Rolls-Royce to use the SPIRIT operating system, along with Whispers, the brand's private members' app. Rear passengers can stream content to their screens, and there is onboard Wi-Fi.
If you buy one usedNHTSA recall 26V143000 (March 2026) also covers 2025 and 2026 Cullinans: the rear-seat bolts may not have been tightened properly, and owner letters were mailed on May 1, 2026. Ask for proof the repair was done. The 2025 EPA/DOE guide rates it at 12 mpg city, 19 highway and 14 combined, and the original 2025 Series II road test reports about 6,085 pounds curb weight for its reviewed configuration. For an affected unrepaired vehicle, do not use the rear seats or luggage compartment until the 26V143000 remedy is completed.
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