The VW Group’s embarrassing diesel scandal hasn’t deterred Bentley from creating its first ever diesel-powered vehicle based on their…first ever SUV, the Bentayga.
Aptly (and some would say, very mainstream-ly) named the Bentagya Diesel, it shares the related Audi SQ7’s triple-charged 4.0-liter V8 diesel lump that exploits a pair of twin-scroll turbochargers and a so-called “e-booster” 48v electric supercharger to produce the same 435PS (429 HP) and 900Nm (664 pound-feet) of torque.
We don’t know if we should be surprised that Bentley announces the same 0-100km/h (62mph) sprint time as the Audi SQ7 at 4.8 seconds, but instead of limiting the SUVs top speed at 155mph (250km/h) like the Germans, the Brits allow the Bentayga Diesel to reach a loftier 168mph (270km/h), which in turn, lets them brag about it being the “fastest diesel SUV in the world”.
Again, as with the SQ7 (see a pattern here?), the Bentayga Diesel mates the V8 oil-burner to a ZF eight-speed automatic transmission driving all four-wheels.
Bentley boasts that the diesel-powered SUV has the lowest CO2 rating in its range at 210g/km, with a claimed –and we stress that- fuel economy of 38.5mpg UK (equal to 32.0mpg US or 7.3 l/100km).
We won’t see the Bentayga Diesel at next week’s Paris Auto Show as Bentley has decided to skip this year’s event, but the SUV will go on sale across Europe before the end of 2016, with UK prices to start from £135,800, which is £30,000 less than the W12 model, but almost double the price of the £70,000 Audi SQ7. No word yet on availability in North America, but we wouldn’t bet on it, at least not in the near future.
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