Rolls-Royce is building a limited-edition Cullinan with an aeronautic theme, and it’s called the Blue Shadow.
According to the automaker, the Rolls-Royce Black Badge Cullinan Blue Shadow was inspired by the Kármán Line, a theoretical boundary 62 miles above the Earth’s surface and considered by many to be where the atmosphere ends and space begins. Named after physicist Theodore von Kármán, the line isn’t universally recognized as the edge of space, but has been treated as such by various agencies involved with spaceflight.
At the Kármán Line’s altitude, the blue sky of Earth’s atmosphere fades into the blackness of space, which is reflected in the Blue Shadow’s color palette. The paint color is a bespoke shade called “Stardust Blue,” while the grille and front-bumper trim are blackened, with a satin finish meant to recall the thermal tiles of the Space Shuttle’s heat shield.
In another spacecraft-inspired touch, the Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament is 3D printed from titanium—a material used in the aerospace industry. It also gets a blue-tinted lacquer finish, while the wheels are finished in translucent lacquer.
Rolls-Royce Black Badge Cullinan Blue Shadow
Continuing the theme, the dashboard and door panels have a painted fade effect that starts out as light blue at the bottom and gradually darkens toward the top. This effect is created using six layers of paint, including five shades of blue and one shade of black, according to Rolls. It’s topped with a clear coat incorporating blue and clear-glass particles.
Each seat has leather upholstery with over 75,000 perforations that together create an image of the Earth as viewed from space. Smaller perforations (0.8 millimeters in diameter) represent land, larger perforations (1.2 mm) represent the sea, and blank space represent the clouds.
Rolls-Royce Black Badge Cullinan Blue Shadow
The Blue Shadow also gets its own version of Rolls-Royce’s Starlight Headliner. Instead of just stars, it also incorporates an embroidered image of the Moon. It’s made from 250,000 separate stitches and takes two days to complete. That’s in addition to installing the 1,183 “star” lighting elements that shine through the headliner.
Each Blue Shadow also comes with a matching luggage set and a 1:8 scale model of the SUV, complete with working lights, opening and closing doors, and even illuminated kick plates.
Rolls-Royce Black Badge Cullinan Blue Shadow
Rolls-Royce will build just 62 copies of the Blue Shadow, one for every mile from Earth’s surface to the Kármán Line. All have been spoken for.
Pricing information hasn’t been announced.
