Bentayga can go anywhere
With the memory of Bentley’s 1930 Blue Train Speed Six blasting up the Goodwood Estate hill still fresh in our minds, the idea of an even more sporting vehicle from this venerable marque seems somehow not so implausible. After all, the brand was established by the derring-do exploits of its founders, and the ruggedness of their roadgoing leviathans once led competitor Bugatti to refer to them as “the world’s fastest lorries.”
The Bentley name has since come to represent grace and refinement, with a rarefied air of wealth and privilege. But the upper echelons resist change and inclusion.
The idea of brand-sharing with new-money commoners in blinged-out SUVs is enough to curl the lip of the staunchest aristocrat, but Bentley is banking that its new ultra-luxury SUV will appeal to those with “five or more cars,” one of which is already a high-end utility vehicle.
Luxury SUVs are part of a lucrative and growing sector, one which otheruber-exclusive brands such as Rolls-Royce and Lamborghini are also planning to enter. It was certainly a game-changer for Porsche, which, like Bentley, operates under the Volkswagen umbrella.
The Cayenne was a notable pioneer in the luxury SUV segment and suffered the brunt of brand-purist backlash. But, like most manufacturers of exclusive vehicles, Porsche has a small output and the Cayenne helped pull it through the disastrous economic meltdown of a few years back.
Bentley’s annual sales increased more than tenfold — from 700 to 12,000 — since the introduction of its first mass-produced model, the Continental GT.
The automaker is hoping the Bentayga will help it realize an annual sales goal of 15,000 by 2018.
The Bentayga will be the “most advanced Bentley by some margin,” said Dr. Marcus Abbott, head of product marketing for Bentley Motors in the U.K.
Five years and $800 million US later in development, the Bentayga project employed more than 1,000 engineers, and has an “astonishing electrical complexity” governed by 90 different control units.
Abbott said the Bentayga will give customers “the ability to take luxury anywhere, so it doesn’t have to stop when the tarmac ends.”
An exclusive unveiling revealed a sleek and boldly designed vehicle.
“The Bentayga has to be 100 per cent Bentley, inside and out,” said Sangyup Lee, Bentley’s head of exterior design. “Timeless but not trendy, substantial yet exquisite.”
In profile, the Bentayga somewhat resembles the Porsche Cayenne. It’s built on the same platform as the Audi Q7 and forgoes the EXP 9F’s boxiness for a faster, more raked outline. The all-aluminum body features character aspects drawn from the Continental and the Mulsanne, from the sharp character line flowing from the B-shaped front vent, to the separate Continental-style rear haunch and the GT-inspired beltline.
The blunt prow has the unmistakable face of Bentley, and some very clever engineering went into forming its front fascia almost entirely of aluminum. The mesh grille of incredibly hard, chromed plastic acts as a crumple zone.
It was crucial that the Bentayga, in establishing a benchmark for ultra-luxury SUVs, feature a cabin worthy of the Bentley name. The dashboard itself is handcrafted from fine wood veneers and lasercut to sit flush with instrumentation. The switchgear also features the sort of knurling you’d see on fine watches, and traditional analog gauges rest beneath anti-reflective glass.
Seating is wrapped in doublestitched, fragrant hides sourced from German cattle; from bulls, no less, which are less prone to stretch marks than cows. Rear seats are duplicates of those in the front, being 22-way adjustable, climate controlled with massage functions, and can be fully reclined. Optional is a three-passenger second-row seat with a 60/40 split, and there’s a possible third row to come.
For now, the single powertrain is a new 6.0-litre W12 engine, which combines direct and port injection and features a twin-scroll turbocharger with integrated manifolds, for a 30-kilogram weight saving over the current W12. With an eight-speed automatic transmission, this powertrain puts out 600 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque, which reportedly propels the Bentayga from a standstill to 100 km/h in 4.1 seconds.
Thanks to its prodigious torque output and electronic complexity, the Bentay gahas no need of low-gear locking. Instead, there’s a sophisticated chassis and suspension setup that features four dynamic modes— Comfort, Sport, Bentley and Custom — and four off-road modes — Snow, Gravel, Mud and Sand.
There’s also a “world exclusive” Bentley Dynamic Ride system that employs electronically controlled anti-roll bars that react within 50 milliseconds to suspension and traction inputs. These can be disconnected for more “rolling comfort, or for additional wheel articulation when off-roading.”
Of course, most well-heeled customers aren’t going to be flogging their uber-expensive luxury vehicles through the mountains, but Michael Winkler, Bentley Americas president and chief executive, believes it’s important to them to know that they could.
The Bentley Bentayga will be officially unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show this month, when further information, including pricing (expect it to be well above $200,000) and fuel-economy figures, will be available.
While the aluminum bodies are manufactured in Bratislava with the Audi Q7, the remainder, including interior, chassis and powertrain, will be produced in the U.K.
The Bentayga will appear in dealerships by the first quarter of 2016.