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Rolls-Royce gets down to testing new aluminum architecture

Rolls-Royce is preparing to step – or serenely glide – into modernity. It has a new aluminum architecture under development that's set to underpin all its future products. And now it's giving us a taste of what's to come. Goodwood first announced the new platform in February when it revealed intentions to build its first SUV. Now it's saying the architecture won't just underpin the crossover known tentatively as Project Cullinan – it'll form the basis of every model it makes from 2018 onwards. Rolls is already testing the new platform with mules like the one pictured above. The vehicle would appear to be a Phantom behind a mask, but the way that Rolls has disguised the rear end of the prototype tells us it might be wearing a more wagon-like roofline, the likes of which we'd expect to see on the crossover when it arrives. The company's also been testing its first all-wheel drive system for the same project with another type of test mule entirely. Once Project Cullinan is complete, Goodwood's first SUV will launch into a market filled with high-end products. Porsche is firmly established in the sector, and Range Rover is making ever-more expensive models. Soon Bentley, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Maserati, and Lamborghini will also join the fray, but the Rolls-Royce will likely be the most expensive and most luxurious of them all. ROLLS-ROYCE MOTOR CARS ANNOUNCES FUTURE ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENTS In February 2015, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars announced the development of an all-new aluminium space-frame architecture that will underpin all future Rolls-Royce models arriving in market from early 2018. The company today announced that it has begun the testing phase of this new architecture, with early preparatory activity seeing new engineering mules tested in public around the world. The Architecture of Pure Luxury The future of pure luxury motoring is already taking shape as Rolls-Royce Motor Cars begins testing its new aluminium space-frame architecture which will underpin all future Rolls-Royce model lines. The architecture will arrive in market from early 2018. Engineering mules will be assessed on public roads in various locations around the world. The current testing phase aims to ensure that the new space-frame structure perfectly delivers Rolls-Royce's trademark 'magic-carpet ride' on a variety of surfaces and that it is resilient to extreme weather conditions.

Custom Rolls-Royce Rose Phantom is a private garden party for two

What a Rolls-Royce customer wants, a Rolls-Royce customer gets. An entrepreneur from Stockholm, Sweden, named Ayad Al Saffar recently commissioned this bespoke Phantom with the dream of being enveloped in an elegant floral arrangement. Using a rose garden at the House of Rolls-Royce as inspiration, designers shaped more than one million embroidered stitches into an entanglement of greenery, flowers, and butterflies. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars CEO Torsten Muller Otvos calls it the Rose Phantom.  Apparently, the person who ordered this Phantom likes flowers so much that he named two of four children after plants. Now, a personal garden goes anywhere the car goes. The custom order was a natural fit in the Phantom, as the Rolls-Royce Rose Garden in Goodwood, West Sussex, is the only place in the world that grows the Phantom Rose, a flower created exclusively for Rolls-Royce by British rose breeder Philip Harkness. The customer's daughter Magnolia chose the Peacock Blue exterior on the Phantom. Embellished with a touch of flair, it has a Charles Blue double pinstripe along the beltline, as do the wheels, which are meant to mimic a floral design. The simple and stately exterior makes the interior stand out all the more. Inside, satin stitch Phantom Roses adorn the doors and the starlight headliner. The design shows the flowers in multiple stages of growth and is intended to portray a floral net spreading throughout the vehicle. Even the driver gets to enjoy the foliage, as the glass-encased dashboard has its own bouquet. A final touch uses Peacock and Adonis Blue butterflies to add a bit of motion to the scene. The cabin scheme inverts the exterior colorway and uses Charles Blue leather Serenity Seating with Peacock Blue piping.  Al Saffar says it took him 35 years to achieve his dream of buying a Rolls-Royce.

Mansory-tuned Rolls-Royce Cullinan is dubious decadence

German tuner Mansory doesn't do subtle, but its latest take on the Rolls-Royce Cullinan goes above and beyond in the flamboyance department. It celebrated the opening of its first showroom in Dubai by giving the British SUV a love-it-or-hate-it redesign inside and out. Nearly every part of the Cullinan's exterior has been modified. Mansory installed a full body kit that adds a deeper front bumper with extra air intakes and a splitter, vents chiseled into the fenders, side skirts, a spoiler above the rear window, and a sizeable rear diffuser. Flared wheel arches cover 24-inch forged wheels, and many of the exterior add-ons feature a black, gray, and white finish that almost looks like granite, a resemblance we're guessing is intentional. And, don't look for chrome: The bright bits were made black to give the SUV a more sinister look. Inside, the granite-esque finish appears on most of the trim pieces, and Mansory fitted leather upholstery with a wave-like motif on the door panels and on the center consoles — there are two in the Cullinan. The passenger sitting in the back enjoy individual power-adjustable seats upholstered in different colors, tray tables integrated into the front seatbacks, and an outline of the United Arab Emirates in the headliner. The same outline is stitched into the rear headrests and into the seatbelts, which also gain a white Mansory-branded stripe. Mansory didn't publish precise technical specifications, but we know that it didn't leave the drivetrain untouched. It quotes an output of 610 horsepower and 701 pound-feet of torque, while the stock Cullinan's 6.75-liter V12 posts 563 and 627, respectively. Another detail that hasn't been released yet is pricing. But, if you need to ask, odds are you're not the kind of customer that Mansory wants to lure into its showroom. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.