When Rolls-Royce started building the Cullinan SUV, it made a pinky promise to its investors that it would keep them updated on its progress by reporting back to them from time to time. Well, that time has come and to ease or exacerbate their concerns (depending on how you feel about the images you see in front of you), Rolls-Royce has dropped two telling images of the SUV. Camouflage may still be present on the behemoth, but from what we hear, Rolls-Royce left the body as close to production-ready as possible.

Looks are subjective, but we're not exactly sure what to think here. Some designs carry over well to the SUV, take the Alfa Romeo Giulia lending its lines to the Stelvio for example. Others, not so much. The Rolls-Royce Phantom is a very distinguishable car due in part to its classic lines, large proportions, signature grille, and suicide doors. However, on an SUV the strong lines don't look right unless gunning for a rugged look, and that's about as distant for Rolls-Royce as a supercar. The body style is still evolving and we won't knock Rolls-Royce for trying something new, but, at least with the camouflage on, the Cullinan looks like an older Chevrolet Tahoe. Cover up the lights and grille on the front end and it's hard to tell the two apart.

One thing we fully support (as long as Rolls-Royce decides to keep it) is the prospect of a V12 engine in an SUV combined with suicide doors. Previous renderings depicted the Cullinan with a the tail end of a hearse, but this is contradictory to what BMW design chief Adrian van Hooydonk told Top Gear when he said it would be a "high-sided vehicle" rather than an SUV. For now we can only see the front and a bit of the side of the Cullinan, but that will soon change as Rolls-Royce announced that it is about to begin testing the Cullinan in the cold weather. Let's just hope that it decided to add a few Ghost-like curves to the Cullinan and didn't use the G-Wagon's success as an excuse to make something stout and edgy.