Sports Utility Vehicles, otherwise known as SUVs, used to be highly popular before the economic crisis, since they offered toughness, quickness, practicality and space all in one single vehicle, which suited the needs of both families and wealthy individuals at the same time. However, the recent economic downfall caused a decrease in demand for these rather expensive automobiles, which forced SUV giants such as Ford and Chevrolet to completely rethink their business strategies. In recent years tough, the massive economic growth of China allowed SUVs to become highly coveted once again, and even some distinct areas in North America have started to demand more and more lavish 4x4s. Consequently, even companies that had nothing to do with SUV production started thinking about creating some of their own gas-guzzlers, including Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Jaguar and even Lamborghini.
As far as Rolls-Royce is concerned, its Chief Executive Officer Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes recently stated that he has not “ruled out” the possibility of creating an SUV bearing the brand’s heritage, which pretty much means that the company’s engineers are already sketching out this future bad boy. The RR SUV will reportedly be inspired in its design by the Ghost and Wraith models, and it will probably include the firm’s signature suicide doors for a touch of exclusivity. In any case, we will probably see a functional concept of the vehicle in 2015, which will push the production all the way to 2017, while its main competitor Bentley already unveiled its SUV concept and is planning to sell it by 2016.
As we mentioned before, Lamborghini is also planning to retail is own luxe 4×4, and we’ve already been impressed by its Urus concept that was unveiled at the 2012 Beijing Auto Show. Some say that the model is soon to be pushed into full production, while Maserati is also preparing to launch its Kubang SUV by next year.
This year’s Frankfurt Motor Show also held a surprise for 4×4 fans, since this is where Jaguar revealed its C-X17 concept. Even though the company did not confirm it, we wouldn’t be surprised of this gorgeous SUV would go into production in 2015. One thing’s for sure: the competition will be stiff during the next few years.
