It goes without saying that there is a fast growing group of nouveau riche over in China, and luxury car maker Bentley is not going to let this opportunity pass them by. No sir, they have underlined the importance of the Chinese market by using the Beijing motor show as its vehicle (pardon the pun) to unveil its very first attempt at a hybrid concept car, not to mention using this opportunity to debut another three more models.
This hybrid ride will be based on Bentley’s £225,000 flagship Mulsanne model, where the hybrid system makes use of both petrol and electric power, allowing you to plug into its mains in order to juice up your ride whenever it starts to run low on juice. The manufacturer touts that the system will be able to increase the car’s power output by 25%, while cutting emissions by 70%, in addition to letting you get around on this vehicle for 30 miles before its batteries run well and truly flat.
Ricky Tay, Bentley’s China managing director, shared, “China has always been a key market for Bentley and, after a remarkable year in 2013, we have seen an impressive start to 2014 with a 19pc increase in sales in the first quarter. Our customer base is growing and we are expanding our dealer network to offer our ultra luxury products and a unique brand experience throughout the region.”
Bentley is set to show off its hybrid car concept at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition on April 20. The hybrid vehicle that will on display at the show is … Continue reading
Bentley has announced that it will be making updates to its Continental GT and Flying Spur models. The performance updates for the Continental GT Speed make it the fastest production … Continue reading
Complex assembly lines and state-of-the-art robots usually hog the limelight when car makers give behind-the-scenes peeks at how their vehicles are assembled. But this look at Bentley’s leather shop is a wonderful mix of both modern machinery and old-school art and craftsmanship.
Bentley has unveiled a new super luxurious sports car offering more power and more performance for well-heeled buyers. The car will be officially unveiled at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show and is called the Continental GT V8 S. The car is dead sexy and massive tipping the scales at 5060 pounds for the coupe.
A convertible version of the car weighs in at 5445 pounds. Both cars use the same 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 engine producing 521 hp and 502 pound-foot of torque. Despite the massive girth of the vehicles, the coupe version is able to reach 60 mph from a standstill in 4.3 seconds and claims a top speed of 192 mph. Not too shabby.
The convertible version is able to make the Sprint to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds with a top speed of 191 mph. Despite the high-powered V-8 and the lumbering size of the vehicle, the coupe still has a combined fuel economy rating of 26.8 mpg with convertible rated at 25.9 MPG, providing an impressive range of 500 miles per tank.
The official price for the 2014 Continental GT V8 S is unannounced at this time, but it’s safe to say “stupid expensive” is about right.
Bentley makes high-performance cars that are also incredibly luxurious, the Bentley name is currently in the upper echelon of the automotive market. Bentley vehicles are incredibly expensive and a large portion of the vehicles are made by hand. Bentley has unveiled a new supercar called the Continental GT V8 S. The new S version is […]
Bentley may be known for its over-luxurious cars, but the company has confirmed plans that they’ll be producing their first-ever SUV, and will be the fourth model that the car company produces. However, they’re not just stopping there. Bentley wants their new SUV to be the most powerful SUV on the market, so their dropping in a 570 HP engine.
This means that the yet-to-be-named SUV will be more powerful than Mercede‘s AMG SUVs, as well as Porsche‘s Cayenne Turbo S, both of which top out at 550 horsepower. Bentley expects the SUV to go on sale starting on 2016, meaning that the model year of the new vehicle will most likely be a 2017.
We’ve heard of Bentley’s SUV plans in the past, but it was merely just a concept at that point, called the EXP 9 F. We doubt that will be its official name, and the company even said it hasn’t decided on a name yet for the new vehicle.
Bentley says that customer response to an SUV has been high, and they company is going all-in on the new vehicle, creating over 1,000 jobs in the UK, as well as investing over £800 million over the next three years at the company’s Crewe headquarters for future development of new vehicle models.
The engine that Bentley plans to use in their new SUV is the 6.0-liter, twin-turbocharged W-12 engine that’s also equipped in several of the company’s other models. This will produce 567 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. As for price, Bentley didn’t say, but it’ll likely cost a couple hundred thousand dollars.
Bentley has taken the wraps off of its new Continental GT3 racer, aiming to prove that it’s not only Jaguar that can bring something beefy and British to the Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend. Where Jaguar’s achingly appealing Project 7 is a design study, however – albeit one which will do 0-60mph in 4.1 seconds – the Bentley Continental GT3 is headed to the racetrack, aiming to bring its monstrous 600 HP power to FIA Blancpain Series races in 2014.
Although the external design shows the obvious relation to Bentley’s Continental GT road car, there have been some major changes to fettle it for the track. In total, Bentley has ditched more than 1,000 kg in weight, including the wood and leather interior trim, the electrical systems usually found in the production car, and most of the controls on the dashboard. That brings it under 1,300 kg, even with the addition of some carbon-fiber on the outside: a rear wing, a splitter at the front, and tweaks to the bonnet, bumpers, fenders, and sills to cut drag and increase passive cooling.
The biggest change, though, is probably to the engine. That’s a 4.0-liter V8, in the racer pushed back to the back of the engine bay and paired with a carbon-fiber propshaft to drive the rear wheels. A new gearbox – an Xtrac six-speed sequential, with a limited slip diff and pneumatic shifting – is controlled via steering wheel paddles.
Bentley Continental GT3 teaser:
Gone is the road car’s air suspension, replaced with double-wishbones front and rear, as well as four-way adjustable dampers. Ventilated iron disc brakes work with six-piston calipers at the front and four-piston at the back; the driver can independently adjust the braking balance themselves.
Bentley Continental GT3 racetrack testing:
Inside, it’s stripped out but still surprisingly luxurious for a racer, with the Continental GT3 getting the usual hand-trimmed and stitched wheel, door pulls, and seat. They share cabin space with a steel roll cage, six-point safety harness, integrated fire extinguisher system, and pneumatic jack system.
Bentley isn’t saying what sort of performance it expects from the 600 HP car, with the company planning to tune the car over the coming months before it takes place in development trials and FIA homologation.
Bentley has revealed its new Flying Spur, billed as the fastest, most powerful four-door Bentley to-date, and packing even vaster quantities of technology into its cosseting wood, leather, and metal-clad cabin. Set to officially debut at the Geneva Motor Show in early March, the new Flying Spur squeezes a 6.0-litre, twin-turbo W12 powerplant under the hood, pushing out 616bhp and 800Nm of torque for a 200mph top speed and a 0-60mph dash in 4.3s. However, inside, there’s a combination of comfort and gadgetry, with a 1100W Naim audio system and touchscreen controls.
The W12 is hooked up via an eight-speed ZF auto transmission to the four-wheel drive system, which normally splits things 60:40 (rear:front) but can bias its output by up to 85-percent to the rear (or up to 65-percent to the front) depending on road conditions. Bentley also promises a bump in responsiveness at low-speed, and 580 lb-ft of torque at just 2,000 revs. Economy probably isn’t going to be too high on the agenda for most owners, but the Flying Spur will put in a 19.2mpg combined cycle, with 343g/km CO2 output.
Bentley Flying Spur preview:
Under the muscular haunches, there’s a new air suspension system that automatically lowers the car when it climbs above 121mph. It’s also capable of more comfort, however, not just adjusting for stability, with up to a 13-percent increase in softness for passengers. Outside, it’s a mixture of aluminum, polymer composite, and other lightweight materials, with a new, longer and lower trunk lid, more upright grill, some extra creasing to draw your eye along the waistline, and a 4-percent increase in rigidity. Despite all that, it’s actually 50kg lighter than the version it replaces (ditching the “Continental” branding in the process).
Step inside, and Bentley’s attention to detail becomes clear. The Flying Spur will be offered in both four and five seat versions, depending on how willing you are to share your luxury, with a new, softer leather, 14-way power adjustable seats (all with both heating and ventilation), and electric rear sunblinds, with the option of a no-cost glass roof. In the four-door, the center console sweeps all the way through the middle of the cabin; either way, a single veneer is used for the dash and the doors, so that it appears like an unbroken swathe of wood.
The standard audio system offers eight channels and eight speakers, while the Naim system steps up with individual subwoofers. Both can play CDs, DVDs, music from SD cards and iPod/iPhone, and the onboard hard-drive. A touchscreen remote system in the back allows control over multimedia, navigation, and heating/cooling. An option, meanwhile, is the Bentley Multi-Media Specification, which throws in an integrated mobile WiFi hotspot, 64GB of storage, two 10-inch LCD displays for the rear passengers, each with their own multimedia loading stations (for CD/DVD, SD, USB, and HDMI input) and wireless headphones.
Bentley is yet to confirm pricing for the new 2014 Flying Spur, which will begin hitting dealerships in summer this year. However, we’d expect somewhere in the region of the $210,000 starting price of the existing model, climbing rapidly the more customizations you ask of the company.
RIM’s subsidiary QNX has a serious thing for cars. Today, the company announced the QNX Car Platform 2.0 and an associated development platform, which is now available to auto manufacturers. Later this year, the group will also release an HTML5 SDK, which will provide specialized APIs for accessing various hardware components within a vehicle. To show off the platform, QNX partnered with Bentley to produce a concept Continental GT, which the duo unveiled today at CES. It’s said to boast smartphone integration, voice recognition and video conferencing — scary to think about that last one. In the following clip, you’ll find an overview of the development process, along with a peek of the interface and controls. Consider the Porsche 911 officially jealous.
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It goes without saying that there is a fast growing group of nouveau riche over in China, and luxury car maker Bentley is not going to let this opportunity pass them by. No sir, they have underlined the importance of the Chinese market by using the Beijing motor show as its vehicle (pardon the pun) to unveil its very first attempt at a hybrid concept car, not to mention using this opportunity to debut another three more models.
