Officially, the most expensive vehicle imported to Israel (Photo: Shaf Shai)
If in the next few days you come across a huge whale on the roads, please, there is no rush to push it into the water - you are probably looking at the most expensive vehicle that has entered the roads of our country as a parallel import - meet the Rolls Royce Cullinan.
And when we say "expensive" we are not talking about the orders of magnitude of cars like Audi, BMW or Mercedes, not even in the worlds of Porsche, Maserati and Ferrari, in fact it is expensive in a way that dwarfs even the top Bentley cars that are sold here as regular imports.
And just to get it off the table and so we can start talking about the car itself, so the number is 5.3 million, for this Culinan the customer paid no less than 5.3 million shekels.
And that's just the beginning of this car's interesting story.
Fills your rearview mirror nicely (Photo: Sheaf Shai)
The Cullinan is Rolls-Royce's first foray into the off-road worlds.
Up until a decade ago, the end manufacturers talked about separating these large and bulky tools that mothers use to transport their children to the soccer club and between them.
And with all due respect to the Range Rover, real luxury is not a vehicle that drives in the mud and certainly not one that pretends to drive in the mud.
But the piles of Mercedes G Class that continued to be sold and not only sold but mostly in their top versions also brought Rolls Royce and Bentley, Lamborghini and Ferrari to say, well, if people are willing to put any amount on this bluff - why don't we see something from it too.
They said and did, and in 2019 they created the Cullinan based on the platform of the owner BMW, and sharing components with the Phantom.
The vehicle named after a giant diamond is 5.3 meters long, 2 meters wide and 1.8 meters high, the wheelbase is 3.29 meters - that is, it almost includes the Lipomotor T03, one of the cheapest cars in Israel, in its wheelbase.
The Cullinan is powered by a small power plant in the form of a 6.75-liter V12 with 571 hp or 600 in the performance-oriented Black Badge version. And performance is not his thing at all, but it will accelerate to 100 km/h in just 5.2 seconds with the regular engine , which is installed in a vehicle that arrived in Israel.
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Equipment level: everything (photo: Shaf Shai)
It goes without saying that the levels of luxury and equipment here are at the highest level that the automobile industry is capable of issuing, in fact it is more impressive than any watch, bag, coat or other luxury piece of jewelry - none of them have been tested for their resistance to wallowing in snow, crossing a dune, standing in the sun or minus 40 degrees - it is Yes and his materials should survive all this.
We said it was unnecessary, but we'll do it anyway.
Comfort is ensured by air shocks with a system that adapts itself to road conditions, a rear steering system will ensure that the driver can maneuver it out of the parking lot to you easily.
When you enter the passenger cabin through suicide doors that open against the direction of travel you will find two armchairs at first class level.
There, apart from the champagne fridge and the pair of glasses, when you open the trunk you will find an option for two "viewing seats" that will allow you to sit comfortably on the back deck.
But Rolls-Royce like, Rolls-Royce will agree to accommodate any request or demand as long as these are legal.
Entering through the suicide doors (photo: manufacturer's website)
Like the long list of accessories, so are the waiting times for a car like the Cullinan.
Liran Eldin, the vice president of sales at "Bavarian Motors" from Herzliya, which is responsible for the Cullinan's arrival in Israel, says that the order for the Cullinan was placed 3 years before the vehicle was delivered to the customer. So how do you get
such a vehicle? There are two options, the first is to obtain a production allocation and wait patiently for the requested model to be built. There is also a shortcut, and find a car that is already on the road. But then, due to the high demand and delivery times, it is not uncommon for the price of these cars to be 30-40% higher than the list price. And since this vehicle is very different from other vehicles that arrive in Israel, it also
encounters at a unique requirement of the Ministry of Transportation. Because the Rolls-Royce E in Israel has an official importer, the Ministry of Transportation in such cases requires special approval from the manufacturer that its "flying technicians" service can and will come to Israel for the purpose of care and maintenance of the car.
There is also a 4 seater version with two first class armchairs (photo: manufacturer website)
The valuation of the vehicle is carried out by an expert appraiser, in this case from the Levi Yitzhak company, who in addition to information on the purchase amount also receives the specifications of the equipment and options, and based on these, submits an affidavit to the Tax Authority, where the magic begins where the price of a car is doubled at the push of a button and the state enters as a partner-50 50 in the car - the air in the wheels is a free pass, the depreciation, the fuel and everything else is on you.
And if anyone thinks that a high enough bar has been set here that it will remain for too long, the importer is sure that it is not true.
Eldin: "This market is only growing year by year, without a doubt more such vehicles will arrive, we already have information about another vehicle on its way here. The communication with the manufacturers works great, they know that these cars are coming to Israel and they have no problem with it, because there is no dealer here Their official record could have been harmed by the competition. They provide us with all the services through the flying mechanics, and if there is something that requires more thorough care, we send the cars to service abroad and return them."
It seems that Rami Gilboa has already arrived in Cullinan (photo: Yakaret website)
How unusual is the Cullinan's price?
He definitely sets a new Israeli record.
Every year several dozen cars are sold in Israel at a price of more than a million shekels, but above 2 million shekels the numbers are already becoming more exclusive.
This is what the most expensive deals looked like in recent years in our car market:
Ferrari SF90 Stralda Spider: NIS 4.5 million.
As is customary in the supercar market, the customer ordered the car in 2021 and received it only a year later.
The price included extras for NIS 650,000.
Aston Martin Vanquish Volante: NIS 3.5 million.
Here, too, a car with a basic price of NIS 2.7 million received extras for NIS 800,000, including treatment by Aston's Q class, named after you know who.
Connect all the cars in the parking lot of the building, maybe you'll reach it (Photo: Manufacturer's website)
The Cullinan is the 71st Rolls Royce registered in the Israeli Licensing Office.
The oldest of them is the Silver Dawn model from 1951 - the model built from 1949 to 1955 in only 760 units, was the first to have a chassis and body made by Rolls-Royce and not one built by external body builders.
William Arthur Robotham, one of the captains of the company at the time, predicted at the end of the Second World War that the ultra-luxury market would change after the war and the body builders would disappear - and he was right.
The vast majority of Israeli Rolls-Royces, whether it's the Corniche, Silver Cloud or Silver Shadow, arrived here as collector cars.
Only 8 Rolls Royce cars arrived here as new through the various import channels.
When the "oldest" is the "small" Ghost from 2013, then the Ministry of Transportation for the first time gave permission to import the manufacturer's product and the newest is from 2021.
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