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Odds are on Bentley Mulsanne replacement to be a flagship SUV

Volkswagen Group brand Porsche sells SUVs so that it can afford to pour money into its segment-defining sports cars. For fellow VW Group brand Bentley, that math doesn't work; Porsche sold around 280,000 cars last year, more than 190,000 of them the Cayenne and Macan, compared to Bentley's total sales of 11,006. The English maker, recently recovered from trying times, must therefore be especially choosy about apportioning resources when deciding what to build. When the company looked at the prospects for the Mulsanne, Bentley realized that developing a four-door sedan replacement wouldn't pay off, so designers fashioned the new Flying Spur into a kind of Mulsanne Lite. If a new model from Crewe ascends into the $300K-plus arena, odds are it will be a crossover. In comments to various outlets over the past few weeks, including Top Gear, Car, and Car and Driver, Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark didn't explicitly admit the arrival of a big-money crossover. However, he said almost everything one could say without admitting it. His comments were previewed last year by those of Werner Tietz, the Bentley board member for engineering. On the subject of updating the automaker's lineup, Tietz told Autocar Bentley's goal is to sell to new customers, and for that, "There is some potential when you look at SUVs too, especially around a car larger than the Bentayga if you consider its value to the Chinese and American markets. So, yes, that is one opportunity we are exploring." Five years ago, talk about a Bentayga variant centered on a sleeker coupe style, not something bigger and badder, but much has happened since then. Hallmark explained that the market for mid-six-figure big sedans has dropped to 1,000 sales worldwide, chopped up between the Mulsanne and Rolls-Royce Phantom. Roughly 90% of Mulsanne sales are to under-40s in China and over-60s in the U.S. While "it's a great business ... it's a shrinking business" because aging Mulsanne buyers in the U.S. don't want to drop another half million dollars on a daily driver, opting for a Flying Spur or Bentayga instead. As for the Chinese market, the CEO confessed to Car, "[If] we did a — not to give you the answer — if we did a longer wheelbase Bentayga, every single one of those Mulsanne customers in ChinaÂ… would take that instead."  The Bentayga soaks up almost half of Bentley sales.

Bentley Mulsanne EWB China Edition ironically celebrates London

Bentley's versed in special editions for China, although it's been a while since we last saw one. In 2010, the English automaker released the Continental GT Design Series China and Flying Spur Speed China, following that up a year later with the Linley Continental Flying Spur that was limited to a mere 10 units. This time around, 15 Chinese buyers get the chance to order the Bentley Mulsanne Extended Wheelbase China Edition in any color they want so long as it's black. This being a product of Bentley's Mulliner bespoke division, though, buyers do get a choice of two special blacks. Onyx black imbues the abyssal shade with "a hint of dark blue" as well as darker tones, resulting in the "deepest black finish offered by Bentley." Mulsanne shoppers who like their blacks a bit more uplifting should opt for Black Velvet, said to be "a richer black-based finish" shot through with red pigments, creating a color recalling black cherries. Both hues are hand-applied, as is the gold fine line running along the Mulsanne's shoulder. Further exterior highlights comprise the chrome Serenity grille with a double-diamond quilt pattern, a Union Jack on the C-pillar, 21-inch and 14-spoke polished Radiance wheels, exclusive welcome lamps, and polished, stainless steel Mulliner sill plates.  Three vogue, two-tone interiors will be available, in either Fireglow with Imperial Blue, Newmarket Tan with Burnt Oak, or Shortbread with Redwood. Crewe artists embroidered the hide covering each seat with "an expressive interpretation" of London's skyline that includes widely recognizable sights: Tower Bridge, the London Eye Ferris wheel, the Shard and Gherkin towers, and The O2 arena. The same design is inlaid into the chosen veneer on the passenger's side.   The 6.75-liter turbocharged V8 with 506 hp and 752 pound-feet of torque goes untouched. Bentley will share pricing only with the 15 souls ready to purchase, but the standard sedan starts at more than 5 million yuan, or almost $750,000 American. Buyers would be advised to have a Bentayga on hand to convey the funds to the dealership.

Volkswagen Group previews its wares on eve of Geneva show

The Volkswagen Group is comprised of 11 brands producing 240 vehicles across 49 factories throughout the world. So the best way to show off the range of the VW family is to cram a few thousand journalists and VIPs into a massive makeshift stand to outline the Group's goals, what's in the pipeline and what you'll be able to buy later this year.
To that end, VW pulled out all the stops on the eve of the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, bringing along 10 vehicles from across the range. We'll be delving into the details of each over the next two days of show coverage, but before that happens, you can read all about what we saw tonight from the cheap seats after the break.