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Bentley Bentayga S revealed as a sportier V8-powered Bentley crossover

Say hello to the Bentley Bentayga S. It’s a performance-focused version of the Bentayga V8, meant for the buyer who wants better handling and sportier looks from their six-figure Bentley crossover. Power remains the same at 542 horsepower and 568 pound-feet of torque from the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8. However, the engine breathes out of a new sports exhaust system with freer flowing primary and secondary pipes. These new pipes and reduced perforations in the muffler make it louder and deliver “enhanced character” versus the standard BentaygaÂ’s exhaust. Basically, the S is going to sound meaner on its way from 0-60 mph in 4.4 seconds. The S will also handle better than a standard V8. BentleyÂ’s 48-volt-powered active roll technology is fitted as standard (previously optional), and thereÂ’s a new “Sport” mode you can slot the car into. Bentley says this Sport mode offers improved steering feel, greater turn-in response and a special stability control tune. Plus, it takes advantage of the revised air suspension that Bentley modified for an additional 15% increase in damping stiffness. Bolstering handling further is a recalibration of the torque vectoring system to sharpen turn-in even more than before. If you still want to take your Bentayga off-road, Bentley says youÂ’ll be allowed to option the All-Terrain Specification on the S to get the six available off-road modes and a certified 19.6-inch wading depth. Bentley did plenty to visually differentiate the S from the other Bentaygas, too. All of the exterior chrome and brightwork is blacked out. That means you get black mirrors, door sills, dark tint to the headlights/taillights, gloss black lower bumper grilles and black-painted exhaust tips. A unique, larger rear spoiler is fitted, and so are unique 22-inch wheels. You can get the new wheel design in gloss black, “black and bright” and silver. The interior is Alcantara-heavy. Bentley uses it for the seat cushions, backrest center panels, gear lever, steering wheel, upper trim and headliner. ItÂ’s also sporting a new seat design that Bentley calls the “fluted seat.” ItÂ’s meant to be clean, simple and sporting — you can spec the Bentayga S in either four-, five- or seven-seat configurations. The seat backrests themselves are finished with an embroidered S. YouÂ’ll find S badging on both the dashboard and illuminated sill plates, too.

VW may make Bentley a subsidiary of Audi

FRANKFURT — Volkswagen plans to make British luxury carmaker Bentley a subsidiary of its Audi division as it seeks economies of scale among its top-end brands, German trade publication Automobilwoche reported. Bentley, for now overseen by the head of VW's Porsche business, Oliver Blume, will from next year be part of Audi, where VW group Chief Executive Herbert Diess believes it has more potential, Automobilwoche cited company sources as saying. Synergies could include using Audi technology for a new Bentley SUV, it added. Volkswagen, which declined to comment on the report, is reviewing the future of its high-performance brands Lamborghini, Bugatti and Ducati motorcycles as part of broader quest for more economies of scale as it shifts to mass producing electric cars. Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters this month that Volkswagen was working on plans to prepare Lamborghini for a stock market listing. Related Video: Audi Bentley Volkswagen

Trump reportedly says he wants to wipe German cars off the U.S. map

BERLIN/FRANKFURT — A report that U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to pursue German carmakers until there are no Mercedes-Benz rolling down New York's Fifth Avenue dented shares in the luxury car manufacturers on Thursday. An excerpt from German magazine Wirtschaftswoche's article, which cited several unnamed European and U.S. diplomats but did not include any direct quotes, could not be independently verified, while a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Berlin referred questions to Washington. The news and current affairs magazine said Trump had told French President Emmanuel Macron in April that he aimed to push German carmakers out of the United States altogether. Macron's administration in Paris declined to comment on the report. The Trump administration last week opened a so-called Section 232 trade investigation into vehicle imports, which could result in a 25 percent tariff on cars on the same "national security" grounds Washington used to impose metals duties in March. This could destroy exports by German carmakers, which control 90 percent of the U.S. premium market and are the biggest European Union exporters of cars to the United States. BMW owns Rolls-Royce, while Daimler has Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen controls Bentley, Bugatti, Porsche and Audi. Daimler, BMW and Audi declined comment. Porsche was not immediately available for comment. BMW shares were trading 0.5 percent lower at 0939 GMT, while Daimler and VW's shares were down 1 percent and 1.6 percent respectively, underperforming Germany's blue-chip DAX. Trump has railed against German carmakers before. And in early 2017, in an interview with German newspaper Bild, he said he would impose 35 percent tariffs on imported cars. At the time, the president called Germany a great car producer but said that the business relationship with the United States was an unfair one-way street. Germany's auto industry association VDA says its members exported 657,000 vehicles to North America last year, with total exports of vehicle components, cars, engines, as well as second-hand vehicles totaling 31.2 billion euros in 2016. Imports from the United States to Germany amounted to 7.4 billion euros, meaning a trade deficit of 23.8 billion euros the VDA's latest available figures show. However, German brands also have huge factories in the United States, where they built 804,000 cars last year, VDA said, providing jobs for U.S. workers. Berlin has reacted angrily to the U.S.