Have you, a Rolls-Royce Cullinan owner, taken a look at your SUV and thought “This is nice, but it’d be even better if it had a widebody and an extra 130bhp”? Well, today is your lucky day – Brabus has got its hands on the Roller.
This is the Brabus 700 Blue Sky, which could take the prize of 2024’s most audacious SUV. The key figure here is 700, referring to the 6.75-litre, twin-turbo V12’s PS figure, or 690bhp to those of us who still power our houses with coal.
Brabus doesn’t state how it’s extracted all of that extra power and a peak of 700lb ft of torque from the engine, although we’d assume that’s largely courtesy of ECU fiddling. Some of it is courtesy of its own-brand sports exhaust system which apparently gives it a ‘distinctly powerful’ tone although that can be switched to a more neighbour-friendly mode thanks to an active system.
That does lead to a notable performance increase, though. Brabus claims the 700 will crack 0-62mph in five seconds flat – three tenths quicker than the base car. Top speed remains limited to 155mph, although it’s at this point in its release Brabus tenuously claims this is a ‘supercar’.
To match that increase in power, there’s an increase in ‘look-at-me’ bodywork too. An aptly-named ‘Widestar’ bodykit is fitted to the Cullinan, adding some extra width to the arches courtesy of exposed carbon fibre.
Oh, and there’s more of the material on the bumpers, an extended spoiler and a small lip below the rear windscreen. That’s all garnished with the usual Brabus badging and a set of 24-inch monoblocks wheels. Naturally.
In case you wondered where ‘Blue Sky’ in the name comes from, that can be explained by the interior. The 700 gets a whole head of pale blue leather throughout the interior, and any pretty much any surface that isn’t laced in it has carbon fibre instead.
As for mechanical changes to help manage that extra power? Well, err, none, as far as we can tell. Brabus does say the air suspension system can be lowered a further 25mm but that’s presumably a bit of code tweaking than anything else.
Oh, and there’s the not-so-small matter of a price. The Brabus 700 Blue Sky can be yours from €753,400 (approx. £630k) – or about twice the price of the base car before you start ticking options. On the plus side, that freeze on fuel duty might help you pay for it…
