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New Bentley Supersports coming in 2014

A report in Autocar says the next Bentley Continental Supersports will be ready for retail duty in 2014. If true, the coupe is meant to follow the same formula as the first generation, which means weight loss, honed reflexes and "improving braking power," that last one an eyebrow raiser because the Continental series already has some of the largest diameter brakes available on a production car.
A vulgar gain in horsepower isn't planned, however; the Supersports was never primarily about pure grunt, but rather being more connected to the grunt the Continental had. The previous Supersports (Bentley no longer offers it) put out 621 horsepower, but it's said that the coming model will move up to 650 hp, and that would put healthy distance between it and the 616-hp Continental GT Speed.
The Supersports would take a place at the head of the Continental line-up, but be briefly usurped there by a road-going version of the Continental GT3 race car if that comes to fruition. But whereas the street-legal GT3 car would be limited production, the new Supersports would be a series offering.

Top 10 small cars with the longest total driving range

Editor's Note: Since this article was originally posted in the spring of 2015, much has changed in the automotive landscape, especially among those shopping for small car economy. With thanks to Volkswagen for their blatant cheating – and subsequent cover-up – on diesel emissions, the largest player in the diesel passenger car segment isn't playing – they're paying; billions are going for both car buybacks and federally-imposed penalties. And for a few VW execs there exists the very real possibility of jail. With the absence of a big player and the abrupt entrance – via Chevy's new Bolt – of an affordable EV with 200+ miles of range, we've limited the diesel listings to Jaguar's new XE. And for those wanting an updated look at efficiency and range, Autoblog has it – or the EPA has it. Long before electric vehicles were part of the mainstream conversation, car lovers and skinflints alike would boast about the total range of their vehicles. There's something about getting farther down the road on one tank of gas that inflames the competitive spirit, almost as much as horsepower output or top speed. Of course, the vehicles with the very best range on today's market are almost all big trucks and SUVs; virtually all have the ability to carry massive reserves of fuel. Top up a standard Chevy Suburban and you can expect to travel almost 700 miles (you'll need to stop before the Suburban stops...), while a diesel-fed Jeep Grand Cherokee manages almost as many. But what about vehicles that are smaller? The EPA has, essentially, three classifications for 'small' vehicles: Minicompact, Subcompact and Compact. All three are measured based on interior volume, meaning that some cars with rather large exterior dimensions and engines slot in next to traditional small cars. But even though impressive GT coupes from Porsche, Bentley and Mercedes-Benz may have much larger gas tanks to feed their powerful engines, that capacity is offset by higher rates of consumption... in most cases. We used the EPA's Fuel Economy Guide for model year 2017 cars as a start, calculating the official highway miles per gallon rating with each vehicle's tank capacity. The resulting numbers aren't necessarily real world, but they do offer a spectrum for total theoretical range. The eventual top ten surprised me on a few occasions, and comprised quite a varied list of vehicles. 10.

Bentley installing 10,000 solar panels in HQ parking lot

Bentley has started construction on what it says will be the U.K.'s largest solar-powered car port at its factory headquarters in Crewe, England. When completed, the array will have a capacity of 2.7 megawatts, enough to cover 24 percent of the company's energy requirements on the site. Crews will install 10,000 solar panels in the employee car port in a project that's expected to take six months. They'll add to the 20,815-panel, 5mW rooftop solar power system that Bentley finished installing at the factory in 2013. The combined output will be enough to power the equivalent of 1,750 homes. The car port will cover 1,378 parking spaces and be installed and operated by British firm FlexiSolar, which is also designing and manufacturing the system. The new green energy system adds to plaudits in recent years for reducing its water usage at the Crewe HQ. Bentley has also been awarded the Carbon Trust Standards for carbon, water and waste. While Bentleys aren't exactly known for their fuel efficiency — the Mulsanne sedan gets a woeful 11 mpg in the city and 18 mpg on the highway — its vehicles no longer appear on the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's "meanest" list of gas-guzzlers, as they once did. It also just showed its forthcoming and long-promised Bentayga plug-in hybrid in Geneva, promising 31 miles of all-electric range and a turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 paired with an electric motor. The brand is also promising a full-electric model in the near future. "We continue to focus on new initiatives that reinforce our commitment to the environment, whether this is introducing alternative powertrain technologies in future models, or our award-winning work to reduce the environmental impact of our factory," Peter Bosch, Bentley's member of the Board for Manufacturing, said in a statement. Related Video: