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Bentley tests next next-gen Flying Spur on Porsche Panamera Turbo body

At first glance, the prototype in the gallery above looks like a blacked-out version of the new Porsche Panamera Turbo. But this is actually Bentley's tester for the next-gen Flying Spur. And since the upcoming Flying Spur, among other Bentley vehicles, will utilize the same MSB platform as the new Porsche, seeing the British automaker using a Panamera makes a lot of sense. The Flying Spur is essentially a four-door version of the Continental GT, which has design cues from the EXP 10 Speed 6 concept unveiled at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show. It's safe to assume that the next-gen Flying Spur will get the same treatment as well. Other than the fender flares, the prototype is identical to the Panamera Turbo. So how do we know that this is Bentley's prototype? According to our photographers, the prototype's license plate is registered as a Bentley with the UK's Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. With the Flying Spur sharing the same platform as the Panamera, we expect the luxury sedan to get the same choice of engines, including the twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 and 2.9-liter twin-turbocharged V6 engine. A concept is anticipated to come out in 2017 with a production variant coming a year later. Related Video: Featured Gallery Bentley Flying Spur Spy Shots View 10 Photos Image Credit: CarPix Spy Photos Bentley Porsche Luxury Performance Sedan bentley flying spur

The mood at this year’s Paris Motor Show: Quiet

The Paris Motor Show, held every other year in the early fall, typically kicks off the annual cavalcade of automotive conclaves, one that traverses the globe between autumn and spring, introducing projective, conceptual and production-ready vehicle models to the international automotive press, automotive aficionados and a public hungry for news of our increasingly futuristic mobility enterprise. But this year, at the press preview days for the show, the grounds of the Porte de Versailles convention center felt a bit more sparsely populated than usual. This was not simply a subjective sensation, or one influenced by the center's atypically dispersed assemblage of seven discrete buildings, which tends to spread out the cars and the crowds. There were not only fewer new vehicles being premiered in Paris this year, there were fewer manufacturers there to display them. Major mainstream European OEM stalwarts such as Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Nissan and Volkswagen chose to sit out Paris this year, as did boutique manufacturers like Bentley, Aston Martin and Lamborghini. This is not simply based in some antipathy on the part of the German, British and Italian manufacturers toward the French market — though for a variety of historical and societal reasons that market may be more dominated by vehicles produced domestically than others. Rather, it is part of a larger trend in the industry. Last year, Mercedes-Benz announced that it would not be participating in the flagship North American International Auto Show in 2019 — and that it might not return. Other brands including Jaguar/Land Rover, Audi, Porsche, Mazda and nearly every exotic carmaker have also departed the Detroit show. Some of these brands will still appear in the city in which the show is taking place, and host an event offsite, to capitalize on the presence of a large number of reporters in attendance. And even brands that do have a presence at the show have shifted their vehicle introductions to the days before the official press opening in an attempt to stand out from the crowd. In many ways, this makes sense. With an expanding number of automakers, with diversification and niche-ification of models and with wholesale shifts that necessitate the introduction of EV or autonomous sub-brands, there is a growing sense that, with everyone shouting at the same time, no one can be heard.

Meet the all-new, third-generation Bentley Flying Spur

The all-new, third-generation Bentley Flying Spur rolls into our lives behind a retracting, illuminated Flying B hood ornament. The grand tourer sedan sibling to the Continental GT also brings a new platform with a longer wheelbase, a new design, more technology, and fluted leather and wood finery. About the only thing that doesn't change is horsepower, with the 6.0-liter W12 putting out the same 626 horsepower as the top-level Flying Spur W 12 S trim of the second-generation sedan. Torque, however, makes a substantial jump from 605 to 664 pound-feet. The same MSB architecture that serves the Continental GT and the Porsche Panamera has been called up for duty. A wheelbase stretched by 5.1 inches over the previous Flying Spur delivers handling benefits and attends especially to the comfort of rear-seat passengers. Superformed aluminum panels create sharper, smoother lines everywhere, starting with the sedan's face. A much wider grille re-establishes proportions up front, as well as a corporate look that goes its own way from the Continental. Vertical vanes in the grille channel the 1957 Bentley S1 Continental Flying Spur, and sit just ahead of a gloss black matrix mesh. The lower grille comes in gloss black matrix as well, but can be specced in bright chrome. The LED matrix headlamps have been fitted with chrome sleeves in order to glimmer even when the lights are off. A prominent crease emphasizes the shoulders and haunches. Beneath that, the front fender vents adopt a larger and more obvious "B" shape, the lower doors accented by a chrome strip running between the wheel arches. Those arches will be filled with either the standard 21-inch wheels, or two new 22-inch wheels on sedans optioned with Mulliner Specification. In back, wrap-around taillights take on the illuminated "B" graphic, and the license plate holder moves to the lower bumper, leaving only the Bentley wings and the word "Bentley" to adorn the decklid. The interior overhaul befits Bentley's move into its second century. A high-definition digital instrument binnacle sits behind the new steering wheel. A 12.3-inch screen on the instrument panel handles infotainment needs and performs several tricks, one of which is a proximity sensor that primes the system for commands as a hand draws near. Another trick is that the screen is set into a three-sided, rotating shape. A press of a button flips the screen to reveal a panel with three analogue gauges - temperature, compass and chronometer.