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Watch the Rolls-Royce Cullinan tackle the sand dunes outside Dubai

The Rolls-Royce Cullinan is coming soon. The British automaker has made copious effort trying to keep the coming Cullinan from being considered just a crossover or SUV. The carmaker calls it an All-Terrain High-Sided Bodied Vehicle, and a feature as banal as a tailgate has been billed as a "luxuriously comfortable viewing platform." Yet when Rolls-Royce took a prototype Cullinan for testing in the Dubai dunes, they recorded their Phantom-based SUV ripping up the sand in ways you'd expect from a 30-year-old Chevrolet Blazer. As the Nurburgring became to cars, the dunes outside of Dubai have turned into a testing venue as useful as they are photogenic. Rolls-Royce's trip there follows a list of other luxury SUV makers, including Range Rover, Bentley, and most recently, Lamborghini. What caught our eye in this video is that outside of century-old, black-and-white photos of Charles Stuart Rolls hammering one of his early cars in contests like the 1906 Tourist Trophy, this is the first time we've ever seen Rolls-Royce do anything unabashedly racy off-road. It's as if they plucked Florida Man from the Soggy Bottom Mud Park, gave him the keys to a Cullinan and the challenge, "A case of Pabst says you can't break it." Fast forward to the 1:08 mark to get into the action. Obviously, we don't expect any Cullinan driver — save those Dubai hoons — to thrash a Cullinan like so. But it's nice to know the All-Terrain High-Sided Bodied Vehicle can do it. Related Video: News Source: Rolls-Royce [via YouTube] via Autoevolution Rolls-Royce SUV Future Vehicles Luxury Videos dubai rolls-royce cullinan

This is the very last Rolls-Royce Phantom VII

Rolls-Royce built its very last Phantom VII today. The model was first introduced in 2003 and ends with this one-of-a-kind long-wheelbase model that will go to the unnamed Rolls-Royce collector who commissioned it. The car itself is themed around 1930s-era ships, which is in turn a nod to the era of the first Phantom I, launched in 1925. Immediately upon looking at the car's "Blue Velvet" paint scheme, you can see the oceanic influence. The color is accompanied by coach lines with a ship motif, and the tires have white lines to complement it. Inside, the car features the beautiful marquetry wood trim the brand has become known for. The dashboard shows a '30s-era ship with a map of North America and Europe in the background. Further maritime highlights include dash clocks modeled after ship radios, and embroidery on the "Powder Blue" leather that mimics the look of ocean waves. The front dash clock has a movable bezel for different time zones, and Rolls-Royce says the carpeting has been cut to look like a ship's wake. While this generation of the Phantom is at an end, it's by no means the end of the line for the name. We've seen prototypes of the Phantom VIII running around, and Rolls-Royce has openly said that a successor is coming. We expect the new generation will only be available in short- and long-wheelbase sedans to start, and will probably be revealed sometime this year, perhaps as soon as the Geneva Show in March, or as late as the Pebble Beach Concours in August. Related Video:

Rolls-Royce Black Badge Cullinan 'Blue Shadow' straddles Earth and space

Rolls-Royce has another special edition for stargazing types who might not have the schedules to stay up all night stargazing. Called the Rolls-Royce Black Badge Cullinan "Blue Shadow" Private Collection, its design honors the nebulous area where Earth's atmosphere ends and so-called "outer space" begins. Since the edges of our planetary terrarium blend into space, there's no useful coloring-book-like boundary. The International Aeronautics Federation uses an arbitrary height called the Karman line, which Hungarian engineer and physicist Theodore von Karman decided would be 100 kilometers above Earth because that's around where the last traces of aerodynamic lift petered out, giving way to "astronautics." The Cullinan Blue Shadow is a canvas for artistic representation of the Karman line and what lies beyond. The deep blue exterior color signifies the atmosphere's upper layers where the blackness of space suffuses the blue of our daytime skies. Contrasting satin jewelry in the front fascia suggests the silica and aluminum oxide whitewash applied to the thermal protection tiles on craft like NASA's Space Shuttle. The Spirit of Ecstasy was produced in 3D-printed titanium coated in a blue-tinted lacquer, the base inscribed with "Blue Shadow Private Collection." The Cullinan's 22-inch wheels are also dressed in a lacquer layer for dark translucence. Inside, the starlight headliner's been decorated with an embroidered moon composed of five colors, each color sewn in with a different technique and texture. The headliner's 799 white LEDs and 384 blue LEDs create a field of stars for Luna, Rolls-Royce engineers tweaking the twinkling effect in the LEDs "for an even more enchanting glow." The painted instrument panel and door cards transition from black up high to dark and then light blue below. Six layers of colors combine five blues with a black, providing another kind of twinkle thanks to blue and clear glass particles in the clearcoat. The Private Collection clock comes with blue anodized details and an engraved "Blue Shadow." The artwork created in the seats is a first for Rolls-Royce. Each seat's been perforated more than 75,000 times in a pattern representing the Earth as seen from space.