Rolls-Royce's SUV Is In The Works

Published on April 7, 2015 in News by Frédérick Boucher-Gaulin

We already knew that Rolls-Royce was working on a new vehicle that would feature a high-riding suspension and all-wheel drive (essentially a crossover, but the manufacturer doesn’t want you to call it that).

Recently, pictures of a special Phantom Series II began surfacing on the web. The car wears a black paint job, is higher than a regular Phantom and has been fitted with a weird spoiler on its trunk. When I first saw the photos, I suspected an April Fool's joke, but it seems that this is a real vehicle created by Rolls-Royce. It is being used to test out a new suspension tailored for off-road driving and an eventual all-wheel drive setup. As for the rear wing, it’s probably there to simulate the downforce and wind turbulence generated by an SUV. Finally, the shortened platform of the Phantom Series II (noticed the shorter rear doors?) gives us an idea of the new vehicle's overall length.

The manufacturer published these photos of the car in advance of its first tests on public roads, presumably to make sure the paparazzi wouldn’t create crazy theories when they saw a black Rolls-Royce with a large spoiler on its trunk…