Bentley SUV spotted wearing its own suit

Wed, 11 Jun 2014

It's been over two years since Bentley unveiled its first SUV concept at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show. In the time since, Bentley has sent it back to the drawing board and started development, embodied just a couple of weeks ago as a test mule wearing the bodywork of an Audi Q7, the replacement for which will share its underpinnings with the new Bentley. But what we have here is our best look yet at the forthcoming big Bentley.

Now wearing its own suit (albeit a heavily camouflaged one), this Bentley SUV prototype was recently spotted undergoing testing. And judging from the NewBentley.com stickers plastered along its flanks and rear bumpers, it seems like the crew from Crewe wanted us to see it – or at very least has resigned itself to the fact that we probably would.

The prototype is already wearing the new round headlamps that were part of the redesign, as well as LED taillights, and the interior photos snapped through the windows give us an idea of what to expect from the completed cabin, including the digital instrument cluster and head-up display at the base of the windshield.

The jury's still out on what name the finished product will carry when it reaches the market in 2016 with potential V8 and W12 power, but for our part we're still fixated on the Falcon for which the last letter in the concept's EXP 9 F handle was said to stand.

By Noah Joseph