This evening, Rolls Royce has announced that they are working on a new car. The bullet-pointed press release mentions that it will be an all-terrain car (and the word car, not vehicle/truck/SUV, is used). It has been designed to meet customers’ “highly mobile, contemporary lifestyles” expectations per the announcement.

It will be a high bodied car featuring an ‘all-aluminum’ architecture (had to spell aluminum as the Rolls-Royce staff would pronounce it). They will be promoting the new car with the catchphrase, “Effortless . . . Everywhere”.

What we haven’t seen are pictures of the proposed car, the images supplied with the press releases are mere teases (shots of the radiator shell and the Spirit of Ecstasy). But maybe the mule for this vehicle has already been seen in the wild.

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There has been a great deal of speculation that BMW is building an X7 – and spy shots of a supposed X7 mule, a 7 Series sedan, have made appearances online. We know that Rolls-Royce takes advantage of BMW’s large car engineering for the Ghost and Wraith. We can speculate that maybe what we’ve seen is actually this new Rolls-Royce disguised as a high ground clearance 7 series.

No time frames are given for when the new car will come to market – they will take their time and do it right. And one thing I’ve learned about Rolls-Royce, they are a customer driven organization. And one that is very aware of their history.

If you look back into the history of Rolls-Royce you will find their vehicles being used in ways that will surprise. It goes without saying that T.E. Lawerence’s quote, “a Rolls in the desert is above rubies” is apropos to the new effortless, everywhere car coming from Rolls-Royce.