2013 Bentley Continental Gtc Speed Convertible 2-door 6.0l Twin Turbo on 2040-cars

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Bentley and Skoda capitalize on the coronation

Most likely, King Charles won’t be riding in a Czech-made Skoda this weekend when he is crowned king of England, even though the car company has introduced a Coronation Edition in a “Royal Green” color “in honor of the Coronation.” However, should they ride to the fancy investiture at Westminster Abbey in a home-grown Bentley, the royal tushes of he and Queen Camilla may be resting on bespoke, handcrafted “cabin cushions” created by BentleyÂ’s “Dream Factory” to celebrate the occasion (not likely, since the royal couple is expected to travel in the 260-year-old Gold State Coach). The upcoming, day-long event has inspired lots of tchotchkes of course — chocolate Charleses, crowns for dogs, Lego kings — as well as an outpouring of affection by the public and commercial opportunities to sell them things royalty-related. On the matter of the new KingÂ’s rear end, the Bentley cushions are described as being quite fabulous. It took craftsmen three days to embroider them with the special “Coronation Emblem,” which consists, according to the firm, "of two separate thread colours ... three different colourways of the emblem were used, to contrast the individually-selected hides for different colours of cushions to match the interiors of the Bentleys that will use them." The colors of the cushions include Cricketball and Cumbrian Green, accented by piping of Beluga, Porpoise, Newmarket Tan and Imperial Blue respectively. Should they require more modern transportation, a fleet of Bentleys will be on hand for special guests.  Regarding the Skodas, the Royal Green color will be available to order by commoners as well as by the royal couple, available on selected Superb, Kodiaq and Octavia models in the UK.

New Bentley Supersports coming in 2014

A report in Autocar says the next Bentley Continental Supersports will be ready for retail duty in 2014. If true, the coupe is meant to follow the same formula as the first generation, which means weight loss, honed reflexes and "improving braking power," that last one an eyebrow raiser because the Continental series already has some of the largest diameter brakes available on a production car.
A vulgar gain in horsepower isn't planned, however; the Supersports was never primarily about pure grunt, but rather being more connected to the grunt the Continental had. The previous Supersports (Bentley no longer offers it) put out 621 horsepower, but it's said that the coming model will move up to 650 hp, and that would put healthy distance between it and the 616-hp Continental GT Speed.
The Supersports would take a place at the head of the Continental line-up, but be briefly usurped there by a road-going version of the Continental GT3 race car if that comes to fruition. But whereas the street-legal GT3 car would be limited production, the new Supersports would be a series offering.

Weekly Recap: Mercedes continues the pseudo-coupe craze with AMG-tuned CUV

But as BMW's X6 has demonstrated, sport sells in in the crossover segment, and Mercedes is giving the people what they want. BMW proved there is a market for crossover utility vehicles designed to look like coupes – as much as a vehicle with four doors and noticeable ground clearance can look like a coupe, anyway. Now comes the reply from Mercedes-Benz: the GLE Coupe. The rakish crossover is a harbinger of things to come from Mercedes, as it begins the company's transition to a new nomenclature and marks the debut of the AMG Sport line. It also continues the recent coupe craze. Designers from many automakers, like Nissan and Volkswagen, have increasingly turned to swoopy, dramatic styling to make utility vehicles and sedans seem more desirable. By revealing the GLE 450 AMG Sport model first, Mercedes is clearly hoping to cast the GLE Coupe as a sportier, lifestyle-oriented alternative in its lineup of beefy crossovers and SUVs. Mercedes used the word "sport," or a variation of it, 53 times in its press release, so uh yeah, it's sporty. It's not an empty promise: Benz means business with the AMG Sport line. This GLE Coupe gets a 3.0-liter biturbo V6 rated at 362 horsepower and 384 pound-feet of torque paired with Mercedes' new nine-speed automatic transmission, and it runs with 4Matic all-wheel drive. Specs on the other GLE Coupe models were not disclosed. But as BMW's X6 has demonstrated, sport sells in in the crossover segment, and Mercedes is giving the people what they want. After all, more than 260,000 people have bought X6s since 2008, and Mercedes wants a piece of that. From certain angles, the GLE Coupe even looks vaguely like an X6. "This is really a vehicle that is all about status," said Dave Sullivan, product analysis manager for research firm AutoPacific. "You can buy a SUV that doesn't have the inherent qualities of a SUV, such as cargo hauling. People will likely be drawn to the looks. Coupes are all the rage." BMW, however, isn't running from the fight, and the updated 2015 X6 is arriving in showrooms this month. It also added a smaller sibling, the X4, to its coupe-crossover stable in July. The GLE Coupe arrives next year, though Mercedes hasn't specified exactly when it will hit showrooms from the factory in Alabama, or specified details on the rest of the non-AMG Sport models. In 2008, it was surprising the X6 was a hit. In 2015, it will be even more surprising if the GLE Coupe isn't.