Following on from the spy shots that helpfully labeled a prototype version of Bentley’s forthcoming SUV, we’ve dug out more details on the production-spec car that we’ll be seeing at the end of next year.
As previously reported, there will definitely be V-8, V-8 plug-in hybrid, and W-12 versions. By the end of the year, a decision will also be made regarding whether to offer the SUV with diesel power. Although a compression-ignition version primarily would be for Europe and other markets where CO2 taxation is a major concern, a senior Bentley insider has told us that the U.S. market is also keen on a high-output diesel, which would be a “Bentley-ized” version of Audi’s 4.2-liter V-8 TDI, which also will be going into the next Porsche Cayenne.
Perhaps surprisingly, Bentley anticipates that the plug-in hybrid will be the best-selling version of the SUV, with nearly 30 percent of potential buyers saying it was the version they were most interested in during a recent round of market research. We’re told the PHEV will be able to cover up to 30 miles on pure electric power, which may become a major selling point as European and Asian cities move to adopt zero-emission zones.
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Bentley’s sales and marketing director, Kevin Rose, has also confirmed that one objective is to make the W-12 iteration the “fastest SUV on sale,” an engineering target that led to the reduced height of the production version’s roof when compared with the original EXP 9 F concept shown at the Geneva auto show in 2012. The show car turned nearly as many stomachs as heads when it was unveiled, and senior bosses now admit that its styling was part of a “shock and awe” strategy to prepare the public for the idea of a Bentley SUV. We’ve been assured that the finished version is far less visually aggressive.
Interestingly, we’re told that luxury-car sales in China slowed dramatically in the last year and that customers are now looking for cars that make a less-ostentatious display of their owners’ wealth. That suggests the SUV’s biggest market is likely to be the United States, where—for a certain type of buyer—such displays show no sign of going out of fashion.
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