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A diesel V8 is the perfect engine for the Bentley Bentayga

Endless, effortless torque is something that's so often taken for granted. Sure, horsepower figures make all the headlines, but the sensation that comes with immediate and readily available thrust is something that can't be overstated, especially in luxury vehicles. High-strung, high-horsepower engines are great in certain applications, but Bentley owners don't want to work for the power, they just expect it to be there. That's why the 4.0-liter diesel V8 from the Audi SQ7 and its 664 lb-ft of torque make perfect sense for the new Bentley Bentayga. We've known for a while that Bentley is planning a diesel variant of the Bentayga, but it wasn't clear from where the engine was being sourced. According to Telegraaf in Holland, Bentley is pulling the diesel from the heart of its sibling Audi, and it won't be an effort to improve fuel efficiency. The all engine features two exhaust-driven turbos plus a 48-volt compressor that effectively cuts lag to nothing and propels the SQ7 TDI to 62 mph in 4.8 seconds. Expect a similar number in the Bentley. This engine is exactly what the Bentayga needs. There is nothing wrong with the W12 in the standard model, and you could argue a 12-cylinder engine is a better fit in a Bentley. But that's just because W12 sounds better than diesel. While the gasoline engine may more powerful and therefore make the vehicle quicker (leading to that " fastest SUV" claim Bentley loves), no owner will actually be racing their Bentayga to its theoretical top speed of 187 mph. They will be racing away from stoplights, though, in an effort to leave more plebeian cars and SUVs behind. All that low-end grunt is what those owners really want. It's unclear if Bentley will bring the Bentayga diesel to the United States, and given the current state of diesel here, the proposition seems unlikely. Expect an official debut at the Paris motor show in October. Related Video: News Source: Telegraaf Rumormill Bentley SUV Diesel Vehicles Luxury bentley bentayga audi sq7

The Volkswagen Group switches official language to English

The Volkswagen Group can't be fairly thought of as entirely German anymore, so the news that the company is switching its official language to English to help attract managers and executives is a rational, if surprising, decision. While many VW Group companies are still staidly German in character and culture, consider the other companies that it controls: Bentley (British), Bugatti (French), Ducati and Lamborghini (Italian), Skoda (Czech), Scania trucks (Swedish), and SEAT (Spanish). Not to mention the large Volkswagen Group of America operation, which constructs cars in Chattanooga, TN. Volkswagen's explicit motivation is to improve management recruitment – making sure the company isn't losing out on candidates for important positions because they can't speak German – and that's inherently sensible in a globalized economy. Particularly considering, like it or lump it, that English is the lingua franca of said global economy. It also should make it inherently easier to communicate between its world-wide subsidiaries and coordinate operations. It's hard to say for sure if this will have any impact on the consumer, although it's easy to see the benefits if, say, VW Group hires some American product planners or engineers and they push for features and designs that more closely suit American needs. After all, the US is a hugely important market for any manufacturer, and so the switch to English almost certainly has something to do with the outsized influence of the US in the global economy. And there doesn't seem to be a downside from a purely rational perspective, although it could mean that the Group's corporate culture becomes less German. Whether that's a good or a bad thing depends on your perspective. Related Video: Image Credit: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images Plants/Manufacturing Audi Bentley Bugatti Porsche Volkswagen SEAT Skoda

Bentley SUV spotted wearing its own suit

It's been over two years since Bentley unveiled its first SUV concept at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show. In the time since, Bentley has sent it back to the drawing board and started development, embodied just a couple of weeks ago as a test mule wearing the bodywork of an Audi Q7, the replacement for which will share its underpinnings with the new Bentley. But what we have here is our best look yet at the forthcoming big Bentley.
Now wearing its own suit (albeit a heavily camouflaged one), this Bentley SUV prototype was recently spotted undergoing testing. And judging from the NewBentley.com stickers plastered along its flanks and rear bumpers, it seems like the crew from Crewe wanted us to see it - or at very least has resigned itself to the fact that we probably would.
The prototype is already wearing the new round headlamps that were part of the redesign, as well as LED taillights, and the interior photos snapped through the windows give us an idea of what to expect from the completed cabin, including the digital instrument cluster and head-up display at the base of the windshield.