Development of the Bentley Bentayga will reportedly continue beyond the current version with a more potent Speed model added to the firm’s first SUV.
The news comes from Bentley boss, Wolfgang Durheimer, who was asked by AutoExpress whether Chinese customers demand more versions of the Bentayga: “At the moment they want Bentayga. But if you’re asking whether there would be Speed versions of the Bentayga eventually, then yes, you might expect that.”
A possible Bentley Bentayga Speed could up the 6.0-liter W12 engine’s output from 600 HP to around 650 HP, slightly improving its zero to sixty time and making it more expensive, in the region of 180,000 ($261,720) in the United Kingdom. Before reaching a final decision on a sportier Bentayga, Bentley will have to determine between a smaller SUV or a production version of the EXP 10 Speed 6 concept, presented last year in Geneva.
“The Chinese market will add into this decision, but it is not the market that makes the decision. Their purchasing behavior at the moment fits exactly to our personal view as we see it right not, that the SUV segment is the only segment worldwide – and it’s the same in China“, Durheimer said.
Wolfgang Durheimer expects Bentley’s sales to increase in China once the government will relax its anti-corruption investigations on wealthy citizens, which he believes to put off buyers of expensive vehicles who don’t want to draw attention.
“We are following this anti-corruption subject very closely to understand how long it will go on for. The projections are that as soon as the government drops the aggressiveness with how they execute this anti-corruption program, things will normalize. Then I forecast a boom to our products.”
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