After months of speculation, Rolls-Royce confirmed this week that it will be working on an ultra-luxury SUV, though the German-owned British carmaker doesn’t want to call the vehicle as such.
Instead of referring to the upcoming premium SUV as a sports utility vehicle, Rolls-Royce prefers to call it a “go anywhere vehicle,” which is rather odd, but not unheard of in the luxury car space. Rolls parent company BMW, for instance, calls the X5 and X3 sport activity vehicles – that’s SAV, instead of the usual SUV acronym. But since we did mention BMW, it must also be noted that Rolls-Royce will build its ultra-luxury SUV from the ground up, and not base it on another automaker’s underpinnings.
Rolls-Royce didn’t go much into the specifics of its new SUV, but the company’s statement did say that the vehicle will come with an aluminum frame, a high-bodied design, and the capability of handling any type of terrain, hence the peculiar “go anywhere vehicle” description. Tech features and other creature comforts weren’t specified, but Rolls said that these elements should “address contemporary lifestyle expectations.”
Still, it might not be for another few years before we see a Rolls-Royce SUV tooling around the tony parts of town – chairman Peter Schwarzenbauer says that the vehicle will be worked on slowly and carefully ahead of its release. Once it does arrive at luxury dealerships, we should see the vehicle compete with other ultra-luxury SUVs from Bentley and Lamborghini, two other automakers who aren’t exactly known commodities in the sport utility segment.