[The above photo is a rendering from the Xenatec Group]
After Porsche launched the Cayenne in 2002, it changed the sport carmakers’ way of thinking. If the world wants a premium SUV by a top brand, why stick to the past and not ride the wave, increasing production volume and profitability?
After all, despite the initial outcry, it is primarily the Cayenne’s success that we have to thank for the continued existence and evolution of the 911.
At the Pebble Beach festival, Bentley’s CEO, Wolfgang Duerheimer, confirmed that the British luxury carmaker will indeed build an SUV. And he recently replaced chief engineer Ulrich Eichhorn with Porsche’s Rolf Frech who has also worked on the Cayenne.
Duerheimer is convinced that the new model will be a success: “Ninety-nine percent of Bentley owners also own an SUV. I am absolutely sure the demand is here”, he says. And he is determined not to add just another model in the brand’s range but, in his own words, “to make clear whose car is the boss”.
Bentley’s boss told Autocar magazine that Bentley “will be the first to use a 12-cylinder petrol engine in a luxury SUV”. This engine will be the updated version of the W12 that will also power the next-generation Continental range, and Duerheimer praises its compact dimensions that allow for more efficient packaging.
A V12 however may eventually find its way under the new SUV’s hood, but it won’t be a gasoline-powered unit because that would overlap with the W12. Instead, Bentley is looking to use -purists brace yourselves- a modified version of Audi’s 6.0-liter diesel that powers the Q7.
When will the new SUV be launched? Duerheimer wouldn’t say, but he did drop some hints: “The Mulsanne came in 2010 and the Continental a year later. The lifespan of a model is usually six to eight years, so the new model will be valuable when we are expecting a lull. The downswing is the time to introduce this SUV.”
If our calculations are correct, that means around 2015.
