2012 Bentley Continental Gt Convertible on 2040-cars

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Bentley Bentayga V8 specs and pics revealed: It's the sporty one

The glitzy, opulent Bentley Bentayga has so far only been available with a twin-turbocharged W12 in the United States, but that's going to change now that the company has unveiled the V8 version. The Bentayga V8 uses a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 that, despite having two liters less displacement and four fewer cylinders, still makes a healthy 542 horsepower and 568 pound-feet of torque. Those numbers are only official for Europe, though, as numbers for the United States are being finalized. It's not a whole lot slower than the W12, either, with a 0-60 mph time of 4.4 seconds and a top speed of 180 mph. The W12 hits 60 in 4.1 seconds and has a top speed of 187 mph. What is a bit odd is that Bentley is marketing this V8 model as the "sporty" one, despite not being as fast as the W12. In support of the sporty identity, Bentley has endowed the V8 Bentayga with more aggressive looks inside and out with a black grille and unique dual exhaust tips, as well as an optional carbon fiber trim for the interior. To back up the looks, the Bentley Bentayga V8 also has the option of carbon-ceramic brakes. And they're truly massive with 17.3-inch rotors at the front, and 14.6-inch units in the rear. The front rotors are clamped by 10-piston calipers, too. Bentley claims the front brakes are the largest in the world. The V8 Bentayga also can claim a roughly 100-pound weight advantage compared with the W12, though whether you'll notice that in an SUV that weighs over 5,000 pounds is debatable. Pricing and availability haven't been announced for the Bentayga V8 yet. We would expect it to arrive at dealers by the end of the year. It will also likely cost less than the W12 model. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2019 Bentley Bentayga V8 View 10 Photos Image Credit: Bentley Bentley Crossover SUV Luxury bentley bentayga

Bentley wants to get into the coachbuilding business

There was a time when a customer would buy a chassis from an automaker like Bentley and then take it to a coachbuilder to have whatever bodywork they wanted put on it. The practice was particularly prevalent in Bentley's earlier days, but the industry has progressed in such a way - with tighter regulations and unibody construction - that such a practice is no longer feasible. But Bentley wants to get back into that business.
Speaking to UK trade publications recently, Bentley sales chief Kevin Rose indicated that the company is looking into setting up a special division within itself to meet the demands of extremely wealthy customers who want to commission their own coachbuilt custom creations. It's an emerging trend that's seen Ferrari Special Projects build one-offs like the F12 TRS and SP12 EC and McLaren Special Operations the outlandish X-1, and Bentley wants to get in on the action.
It wouldn't be the first even to rebody a contemporary Bentley in recent years. Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera offers the Flying Star (pictured above) that turns the Continental GT into a shooting brake, and Dany Bahar's new coachbuilding outfit Ares plans to do the same. By bringing it in-house, however, Bentley would be able to pick the chassis up off the assembly line at the right time and provide the necessary support and factory backing.

Bentley producing Grand Convertible in grandiose exclusivity

The Googology wiki that celebrates numbers has entries for 42, 151, SpongeBob's Number, and Three Hundred Billion Gazillion. The wiki has no entry for the number 19, which means it doesn't commemorate Steely Dan's "Hey Nineteen," Paul Hardcastle's song "19," or the official production run of the Bentley Grand Convertible. That's right, the abundant and abundantly luxurious Mulsanne-based Grand Convertible will arrive on public roads in 2019. However, Bentley plans just 19 examples of the droptops, and none of them will come to America; only Europe, the Middle East, and Russia have deemed the Grand Convertible roadworthy. Retail price for the Grand Convertible, as if you could buy one in the store, is said to start at $3.5 million - roughly ten times more than the recently-facelifted Mulsanne Speed donor vehicle. ( YouTube gearhead Shmee150 captured the new production look in video taken this month at the Bentley showroom in Dubai.) Actual prices will surely run much higher since Bentley's Mulliner division will oversee the builds. That means custom two-tone colors, shape-shifting diamond quilting inside, Beluga leather, color-matched contrast stitching, and a Burr Walnut tonneau that's the largest veneer ever used on a Bentley. All of that comes before appending every fanciful option an owner consents to fund. Why the wee production run, when Bentley could certainly sell more than 19 specimens? Walter Owen Bentley founded his car company in August, 1919. Even though Walter's first Bentley 3-Litre didn't arrive until 1921, the 19 Grand Convertibles honor the centenary of the company's official founding. Bentley foreshadowed the minuscule production last year, though in a different guise: in March 2016, when Bentley CEO Wolfgang Duerheimer suggested the return of the Azure convertible, the boss said a potential Azure "would be built in [a batch of] 20 units and sold to absolute connoisseurs at a very high price." Give or take a digit, sounds like promises kept. Related Video: