Bentley Bentayga LWB, SUV-coupé under development

Bentley is evaluating an extended Bentayga range in a bid to capitalise on the runaway sales success of the SUV. Plans include launching a coupé-styled version of the car, a long-wheelbase version and possibly a limited-edition high-performance model in a similar vein to the Bentley Continental GT3-R.

The Bentayga coupé is expected to launch around 2019 if it gets the approval of the Volkswagen Group board. This launch would coincide with the facelift of the standard car. The coupé will be broadly styled on the standard car and retain four doors but have a sloping roofline and would be tuned to offer sharper dynamic and performance characteristics.

“I’m confident that it will happen and our team is working on the case for this car, but it is not yet approved for production,” said Bentley CEO Wolfgang Dürheimer. “We are the first in the luxury SUV space and at the moment unopposed, but there are lots of rivals coming to the sector. The question we need to answer is if there is space for all these different body styles.”
It is believed that an extended-wheelbase Bentayga is already in development following the sales success of the Mulsanne EWB model. “In the Middle East and China it is almost exclusively what we sell,” said Dürheimer. “Those markets have shown what is possible and it makes business sense; the engineering is not rocket science, but it is expensive because when you change components like the side panels and roof you add a lot of cost.”

Bentley’s head of engineering, Rolf Frech, revealed that a highly tuned version of the W12 Bentayga was under consideration as well, but stressed that it would only be a limited-edition model. Potential rivals would include the high-performance Range Rover Sport SVR. Frech also stressed that such a car could not impinge on Bentley’s traditional values of luxury. “We can make dynamically focused cars that are extreme, but only for very special occasions,” he said. “They cannot impinge on Bentley’s core DNA.”

The standard, W12-powered Bentayga does 0-100ph in 4.1sec and has a top speed of 301kph.

Despite being one of the most controversial Bentleys ever launched, both as the firm’s first SUV and now its first diesel model, the Bentayga has been critically acclaimed and has exceeded sales expectations. The firm anticipated making 3600 Bentaygas in 2016 but will end the year having delivered around 5600 as a result of demand.

Dürheimer also said plans to launch an SUV smaller than the Bentayga - sized between the Porsche Macan and Porsche Cayenne - were on hold. “For now we will go bigger, not smaller,” he said. “That is the more interesting direction."