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Rolls-Royce sketching out SUV for possible 'late 2017' release

With each new story on the Rolls-Royce SUV, the Goodwood automaker comes off as more at ease with their reluctantly birthed yet necessary sport ute. Company design chief Giles Taylor told Autocar that his team is still "sketching to assess the viability of the concept," which to ours ears means they're trying to figure out if such a beast is even possible within the confines of the brand. If it is, Taylor says it will be "a shooting brake, not a crossover with a sloping roof. A proper SUV."
A different company source, unnamed, seems confident that Taylor's team will figure it out, telling the magazine it would start at 200,000 pounds ($335K US). However, that same source said the vehicle will be "a kind of Mercedes-GLK-plus-plus," which is a baffling description in several ways. More reasonable is the speculation that it will ride on Ghost, not Phantom, architecture and make its debut sometime around late 2017.
That Ghost platform is expected to take cues from the carbon, aluminum and steel bones that supported the BMW Vision Future Luxury concept shown at the Beijing Motor Show and destined for the 9 Series. Some of those tricks will also go into the next-generation Phantom, which Autocar says will come in 2017 and not 2020.

Rolls-Royce brings Pebble Beach 2019 Collection to Monterey

Rolls-Royce brought 13 Bespoke Commissions to Monterey Car Week, each of them only available to guests attending car week. Among the pride, said to be inspired by the resurgent natural landscape of Pebble Beach after years of natural disasters, are a single Phantom, four Cullinans, four Dawns, two Ghosts, and two Wraiths. The Phantom gets the most modest treatment, attired — as usual — for business in a Black Diamond and Gold Bespoke exterior. The interior highlight is the Phantom Gallery, which turns a swath of the instrument panel into a canvas for personalized art. The four Cullinan SUVs begin to taste the rainbow, drenched in the luxury maker's iced finish, which Rolls-Royce says is one of its most popular offerings. The ice finish entails a mildly paradoxical combination of a matte color with an elegant shine, and on the quartet of Cullinans comes in Burnout Grey, Black Green, Iced Gunmetal, and Galilea Blue. Outside the collection but just as interesting from a color perspective, Rolls-Royce showed a bespoke Cullinan in Fux Orange, the paint named after a collector who asked Rolls-Royce to color-match a woman's wrap he bought in Miami. The Ghost, Wraith, and Dawn go all the way with color as part of a Pastel Collection, their "painter's palette of colors" keyed off the riot of ground cover and wildflowers newly returned to the Monterey Peninsula. They include three Black Badge Commissions, the aim to show that Black Badge need not mean somber or dowdy. Rolls-Royce did the same thing last year with its Paradiso Black Badge Collection in Quail Blue.  This year's Ghost Black Badge comes in the new color Light Green Solid over a black interior livened up by Serenity Green splashes. The Wraith wears Semaphore Yellow over a Selby Grey and Lemon cabin speckled by the Black Badge Starlight Headliner. The Dawn shows off Coral Solid on its bodywork and Aero Cowling, made pristine by seven coats of paint and more than nine hours of hand polishing. The interior gets Arctic White and Sunset leather, evoking the "blooming northern California hills and valleys." Every one of the Black Badge Commissions will feature a "Pebble Beach 2019" treadplate, and the hardtops all get Black Badge Starlight Headliners. Anyone who is keen to put money down has one more day to get to Monterey.

Next-gen Rolls-Royce Ghost spied with new interior design

The Rolls-Royce Ghost is going to be entering a new generation soon, and things are remaining largely the same. You'll be hard pressed to notice any significant, new design details through the camouflage on the exterior, but Rolls is coming in hot with new interior bits. Technology from the Cullinan and Phantom appears to be on the table, as Rolls-Royce adapts to the modern world. We can see the digital dials in the instrument cluster that aren't lit up in this photo, in addition to the large infotainment display alongside. Comparing this setup to a Cullinan, it appears to be largely the same. And even though Rolls has covered much of the fancy trim on the center console, it's left some of the parts uncovered. The placement of the vents and other parts seen here echo the design of both the Cullinan and Phantom. The new Rolls Royces have succeeded in adding great tech while also retaining that old world feel about them. It's no surprise to see the same thing happening with the Ghost. We expect this newest Rolls to be riding on a version of the "Architecture of Luxury" modular platform underpinning the new Phantom and Cullinan. Normally, automakers would want to switch up the exterior styling with the move to a new platform, but there's no reason for Rolls to ruin what's working here. We can clearly see a lack of change on the outside from these spy photos. New LED headlight tech will surely be on the ticket, but the rest of the car will retain classic Ghost styling. It's hard to find any problem with that logic, as the design is instantly recognizable, even under heavy camouflage wrappings. Nobody will mistake this for anything other than a Rolls-Royce, and that means the design team is doing something right. This big car will undoubtedly take on the updated 6.75-liter twin-turbo V12 we saw in the Phantom — it makes 563 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque in that application. Just as we mentioned in the first spy shots we saw of the Ghost, there are rumors this car could get four-wheel steering. Electrification rumors continue to swirl, as well, pointing at a possible 48-volt system in this car and even more electrified powertrains down the road for Rolls-Royce.