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Rhys Millen will drive a Bentley Bentayga at Pikes Peak

Despite Bentley positioning its Bentayga SUV as a luxury vehicle, Bentley doesn't want us to forget that it's also a storied motorsport brand. Even the Bentayga can be used for record hunting, as Bentley is eager to show. It has hired two-time Pikes Peak hill climb winner Rhys Millen to take a Bentayga to the mountaintop. With the production SUV record in its sights, Bentley's Motorsport wing in Crewe has prepared a Bentayga for the attempt (which will be used as a benchmark for the Lamborghini Urus). The vehicle has been kept as stock as possible, as per the rules, and for safety reasons it features a full roll cage, a fire suppression system, racing seats and a harness. Still, Bentley has also enlisted exhaust crafters Akrapovic to give it a custom setup; Akrapovic has also done the exhaust for the Continental GT3-R. But the air suspension with its electric anti-roll control is kept stock, and the Pirelli rubber is also off-the-shelf stuff. The W12 engine's 600hp/664 lb-ft power figures also match the unmodified versions. We reported on Bentley's inclusion at the June 24 event earlier, but at that point the driver had not yet been announced. Millen, 45, from New Zealand, is reportedly the second-most-prolific Pikes Peak competitor in the world. The current production SUV record stands at 12:35.61, set by Paul Dallenbach with a Range Rover Sport in 2013. The Pikes Peak Bentayga's exterior has been finished with an unmistakable Radium Satin hue, but other than that and the carbon fiber body kit, it appears more like an everyday, run-of-the-mill Bentayga, not a wild Pikes Peak racer with a bookcase for a rear wing. Related Video:

Bentley debuts the first Bentayga Hybrid in Geneva

Transcript: Bentley unveils the "world's first" luxury hybrid. Bentley revealed the Bentayga Hybrid at the 2018 Geneva International Motor Show. This is Bentley's first step toward eventually going fully electric. The Bentley Bentayga Plug-in Hybrid will include a turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 engine and the "E Motor." The E Motor acts as a generator and electric motor with 3 E Modes: EV Drive, Hybrid Mode, and Hold Mode. It has an electric range of 31 miles with a charge time of 2.5 hours using an industrial connection. Or 7.5 hours using domestic household sockets. The Bentayga Hybrid will also include: traffic sign recognition, rear crossing traffic warning, top view, a 360 view of your surroundings, and park assist detection. What do you think of Bentley entering the electric world? The luxury automaker Bentley unveiled its first ever Bentayga Hybrid SUV at the 2018 Geneva International Motor Show. It's Bentley's first step into going fully electric. The 'E Motor' in the vehicle will provide an electric range of 31 miles with a charging time of 2.5 hours using an industrial connection. Want more coverage of the 2018 Geneva International Motor Show? Head over to www.autoblog.com/geneva-motor-show Green Geneva Motor Show Bentley Hybrid Autoblog Minute Videos Original Video

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.