Small Rolls-Royce viable

Rolls-Royce is busy developing its first-ever SUV, dubbed Project Cullinan, but a downward expansion of the range is unlikely, says the Goodwood company.

As cross-town rival Bentley looks set to expand its vehicle range – and sales potential – to include a small sports car and SUV, Rolls-Royce told motoring.com.au there was room in the market for a small Roller, but said it's unlikely to happen.

"There may be a place in the world for it [a small Rolls-Royce] but I don't think we're going to build it," said Rolls-Royce Global Product Communications Manager, Andrew Boyle.

The newest addition to the Rolls-Royce family, the Dawn convertible, was revealed in late 2015 at the Frankfurt motor show but the current plan is to roll out the new Phantom in 2018 followed by the SUV later that year.

Although the 2018 Phantom's new aluminium platform – a shorter version of which will underpin the company's first SUV – is scalable, it's unlikely to be tailored for a small car.

"We are very happy with the offering that we make today, and I believe our customers are very happy with it as well," said Boyle.

"The belief and expectation among our customers is that it's a car that is V12-engined for the moment."

Clearly a small Rolls-Royce powered by a 12-cylinder turbo engine would be overkill. How about an electric powertrain then?

"We experimented with the idea of an electric Rolls-Royce some years ago with the 102EX electric Phantom," said Boyle, "and our customers were very clear with us – they said we don't want a car that could be compromised."