This, ladies and gents, is the real, actual Bentley SUV that will go on sale in less than two years, in 2016. We still don’t have a name for it, but for the very first time, we have a prototype wearing production bodywork instead of an Audi shell.
And in a “if you can’t beat them, join them” kind of way, the tester was also fitted with “NewBentley.com” decals, a smart promotional move on the behalf of the British company to get some free advertising.
If you’ve been following the news, there’s nothing really surprising about the car’s appearance, as 80 percent of the body looks almost identical to the original EXP-9 Concept SUV from the 2012 Geneva motor show, while the redesigned front end with the…less offensive face featuring four oval headlamps was previewed by Bentley through a sketch in March.
We have nothing on the interior yet, but we suspect that it won’t stray too far away from the sumptuous cabin of the 2012 concept study.
Bentley’s SUV will share its underpinnings with the next generations of the Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne and Volkswagen Touareg, as well as Lamborghini’s upcoming SUV. This tester is powered by Bentley’s 6.0-liter twin-turbo W12 petrol engine, possibly producing over 600-horses. A plug-in hybrid variant has officially been confirmed for 2017, while a smaller V8 bi-turbo petrol engine may join the range as well.
By John Halas
Photo Credits: CarPix for CarScoopS
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