---
title: "Rolls-Royce CEO Throws Shade at the Bentley Bentayga"
description: "Torsten Müller-Ötvös is unimpressed with the Bentayga's Audi underpinnings."
date: "2017-08-08"
modified: "2017-08-08"
authors:
  - name: "Eric Brandt"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/eric-brandt"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/article/13314/rolls-royce-ceo-throws-shade-at-the-bentley-bentayga"
categories:
  - "Bentley News"
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
tags:
  - "Bentayga"
  - "bentley"
  - "crossover"
  - "Cullinan"
  - "luxury"
  - "q7"
  - "SUV"
  - "suv/crossover"
---

# Rolls-Royce CEO Throws Shade at the Bentley Bentayga

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/08/torsten-muller-otvos.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

The Rolls-Royce of insults was recently dished out by Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös. [*Automotive News Europe*](<https://europe.autonews.com/article/20170804/COPY/308049994/phantoms-platform-for-rolls-royce-crossover?cciid=email-ane-daily>) reports that at the [Phantom launch in London](<https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/12933/2018-rolls-royce-phantom-revealed-a-450000-car-with-a-built-in-art-gallery>), Müller-Ötvös said "We are not using mass-manufactured body shells. That limits what you can do on the design side, and it undermines exclusivity massively. You don't want a camouflaged \[Audi\] Q7 in that segment. You want to have a true Rolls-Royce."

This was a not-so-subtle affront to the [Bentley Bentayga](<https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/2012/the-bentley-bentayga-is-the-most-expensive-suv-ever>) crossover which shares a platform with the [Audi Q7](<https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/4453/2016-audi-q7-quick-review>). Compared to a Rolls, a Q7 is a plebeian vehicle in a completely different class than the automotive elegance and opulence offered by the likes of Rolls-Royce. Müller-Ötvös dropped bombs implying that Bentley has lowered its standards if they’re going to put its name on vehicles derived from a brand as pedestrian as Audi.

The “true Rolls-Royce” the executive was talking about is [Project Cullinan](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/6296/rolls-royce-gives-us-the-best-look-yet-at-the-cullinan-suv>), a high-end crossover that has yet to be officially unveiled. This will be the first Rolls-Royce SUV, but the brand prefers to call it an “all-terrain high-sided vehicle.” That sure sounds like an SUV to us, but okay.

Project Cullinan will share a platform with the all-new 2018 Rolls-Royce Phantom. While it is sharing a platform, it’s a platform that’s exclusive to Rolls-Royce and not shared with parent company BMW.

If Müller-Ötvös is concerned with ultra luxury brands sharing platforms with lesser marques, he should take a look at his own lineup. The Rolls-Royce Ghost, Wraith, and Dawn have an awful lot in common with the BMW 7 Series. Perhaps we’re about to see the end of a platform sharing era for Rolls-Royce and the brand moving even higher up in exclusivity.

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[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/brandt004>)