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Bentley Bentayga bodies to be built in Bratislava

Volkswagen's plant in Bratislava, Slovakia, has come a long way. After getting its start in 1971 by subcontracting the production of Skoda-branded vehicles, the plant was purchased by VW in 1991, where it was quickly put to further good use as it began producing Volkswagen Passat models for export. More recently, Bratislava has become a bastion for SUVs, assembling the Audi Q7 and Porsche Cayenne, in addition to the VW Touareg. Color us unsurprised, then, to learn that the Bentley Bentayga, which will be built atop the same large SUV platform as its cousins from Audi, Porsche and VW, will also be used for at least part of the production of Bentley's first SUV. Surely, though, one of the hallmarks of the Bentley brand is that its cars are handmade in England. Won't the Bentley-buying populace feel slighted by production in Slovakia? Not to worry. As is the case with the Porsche Cayenne, all that will be produced in Slovakia is the Bentayga's body. According to a report from Automotive News, bodies for the Bentayga will be shipped from Bratislava to Crewe, England, where they will be finished into fully operational vehicles. In order to accommodate the additional work, VW will reportedly invest 500 million euros into the plant in Slovakia and hire hundreds of workers.

Bentley and Italdesign tease Geneva reveals

With five weeks to go until the Geneva Motor Show on March 5, automakers have begun the tease campaign. But because there are still five weeks to go, the teases are a little stingy. Bentley and Italdesign, two brands owned by the Volkswagen Group - Audi, specifically, owns Italdesign - break the seal with what look like two sports cars, the segment Geneva's best known for. Bentley, surprise, surprise, will celebrate its centenary year at Geneva with something inspired by its Le Mans history. The English carmaker's teaser video contains a number of historical elements that we don't know how to line up with the grille of the modern Bentley featuring a "9" graphic. The narrator detailing the early Le Mans race mentions 60 entries, but Le Mans never fielded exactly sixty entries during Bentley's fame-making days. The closest we could get was the 1925 race, the year after Bentley's first win, which saw 55 cars line up. But in 1925, the No. 9 Bentley had to retire after 13 hours when it caught on fire during a fuel stop. Instead, Bentley could be referring to the next evolution of its race cars. The brand won Le Mans with the Speed 6, and used the Speed 8 to win the 2003 race. Italdesign has gone even more cryptic with its teaser. The styling house most recently known for the Lamborghini Huracan-based Zerouno in 2017, and the Zerouno Duerte and Nissan GT-R50 in 2018, is promoting something else with serious wing. We'll guess it isn't another Zerouno derivative because of the wing stanchion. Freezing a few of the frames reveals background lines that make whatever's coming look highly racy. We'll get answers in the city by the lake. And most likely, a few more teasers before then. Related Video:

Bentley EXP 10 Speed 6 Concept is our first, maybe best, 2015 Geneva surprise [w/video]

Legend has it that Ettore Bugatti once referred to the machines from Bentley as "the world's fastest lorries." While a lot has changed in Crewe over the years, the company's status as a maker of big, heavy, bruising GT cars has carried on. Then the 2015 Geneva Motor Show arrived, and Bentley dropped the EXP 10 Speed 6. First and foremost, it's a two-seater, rather than a 2+2, like so many Bentley coupes before. It's svelte and curvy, all the while appearing more muscular than any other Bentley has been in a long time. Certain Bentley styling trademarks, like the way the huge rear haunches feed over the rear wheels and into the profile and egg-crate grille (complete with heritage-inspired "6" logo) are there, but there's so much new here. The powerful scooped hood, pert rear end and massive ducts behind the front wheels are decidedly more aggressive than what we've come to expect from Bentley, while the slim rear taillights are a different take on the units found on the Continental GT. The headlights, meanwhile, carry on the look of modern Bentleys, but feature a beautifully intricate design in the main lamp. The outer pair of lights, meanwhile, look like a mix of accent and fog lights. One of the biggest complaints about modern Bentleys is that their interiors are quite antiquated. The materials remain top notch, but the technology is ancient relative to the rest of the auto industry. The EXP 10 Speed 6 finally addresses this, and in grand fashion. A gorgeous leather-wrapped steering wheel is flanked by huge leather and metal paddles, while a digital gauge cluster is a big improvement on the Conti's analog dials. A tablet-like interface crowns the high center console, while a beautiful, fat shifter looks ready to fall right to the driver's hand. We'll have more on the EXP 10 Speed 6 in the coming days. Check out the official images and press release on the new concept, as well as a few Short Cut videos we captured during the car's debut at Volkswagen's sprawling Group Night show, below. EXP 10 SPEED 6 - A VISION OF BENTLEY DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE MAR 2, 2015 Concept for sector-defining two-seater sportscar Futuristic Bentley design, a statement in modern British luxury Potential future model line (Crewe / Geneva, 2nd March 2015) Bentley Motors is showing the future direction of luxury and performance with the EXP 10 Speed 6 at the 2015 Geneva International Motor Show.